Howard Lutnick set for House Oversight interview
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick appears before the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies to review a review of broadband deployment funding at the Department of Commerce on Capitol Hill in Washington on February 10, 2026.
Elizabeth Frantz | Reuters
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick is scheduled to appear before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on May 6 for an interview about notorious sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, a person familiar with the situation told CNBC on Monday.
“This is a voluntarily transcribed interview,” said the person, who spoke on condition of anonymity because his involvement has not yet been announced.
Oversight Committee Chairman Rep. James Comer, R-Ky.He said that on March 3, Lutnick agreed to be interviewed about the crimes of Epstein and his convicted procurer Ghislaine Maxwell, but did not disclose what day it would be.
The Commerce Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Lutnick’s planned appearance.
Lutnick testified before the Senate Appropriations Committee on Feb. 10 that he and his family had lunch with Epstein on his private Caribbean island in December 2012 and visited with the family’s nanny.
That meal came more than four years after Epstein pleaded guilty in Florida state court to soliciting an underage girl for prostitution, for which he spent 13 months in prison.
Lutnick’s admission in Senate testimony came after he claimed that he cut off communication with his New York neighbor, Epstein, in 2005.
However Department of Justice files on Epstein It shows that Lutnick remained in contact with him years later.
Former President Bill Clinton testified to the committee about Epstein on February 28 after being subpoenaed.
“I didn’t see anything and I didn’t do anything wrong,” Clinton said of her time flying and socializing with Epstein.
“I had no idea about the crimes Einstein committed,” Clinton said at the time.
On March 17, the Oversight Committee issued a subpoena compelling then-Attorney General Pam Bondi to testify about Epstein on April 14. President Donald Trump fired Bondi on Thursday.
The Oversight panel on March 3 said it had asked seven more people, including Microsoft founder Bill Gates, Goldman Sachs chief lawyer Kathryn Ruemmler, and billionaires Leon Black and Ted Waitt, to participate in voluntary interviews about Epstein.
