Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick spoke with House investigators in a closed-door interview on Wednesday about meeting with sex offender and disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein three times, including once while in the U.S. Virgin Islands with Lutnick’s family.
According to Fox News’ Chad Pergram, citing a person familiar with the issue, Lutnick said he was invited to the lunch along with his family, but was unsettled that Epstein’s assistant knew he was in the Virgin Islands at the time.
After the interview, House Oversight Chair James Comer, Republican representative from Kentucky, said Lutnick appeared voluntarily and corrected prior statements about the island visit, while warning that lying to Congress is a felony if misstatements are found.
“The only thing that I’d seen that Lutnick did wrong was [he] wasn’t 100 percent truthful on the brief visit to the island with his family. He corrected that in his opening statement,” Comer told the media, per Reuters. “If we find that there were any misstatements by Lutnick, it’s a felony to lie to Congress and he’ll be held accountable.”
In an email to Newsweek following Lutnick’s interview, a Commerce Department spokesperson said, “In a voluntary appearance before the Oversight Committee, Secretary Lutnick answered nearly 400 questions from members and staff, ending only when members said they had nothing more to ask. He explained repeatedly that three encounters do not constitute a relationship. The committee adjourned without identifying any evidence to the contrary.”
Why It Matters
Details of the interview potentially sharpen questions about the credibility of a sitting Cabinet official and the extent of his ties to Epstein after the Justice Department released millions of pages of case files this year that included occasional emails indicating Lutnick’s contact with Epstein well after 2005.
Lutnick has denied wrongdoing and has not been accused of criminal conduct related to Epstein—who in 2019 was found dead in a New York City jail cell while awaiting his sex-trafficking trial—but the evolving timeline of their interactions and congressional scrutiny could carry political and governance implications for the Commerce Department and the Trump administration more broadly.
Everything We Learned About Howard Lutnick’s Epstein Testimony
Lutnick told House investigators in the closed-door interview that he could not recall why he and his family had lunch with Epstein on the sex offender’s private island in 2012—despite previously saying he had avoided Epstein after a 2005 encounter at the disgraced financier’s Manhattan home, lawmakers said, according to Reuters.
The secretary, a next-door neighbor of Epstein’s for 14 years on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, told the House panel that they did not have a relationship, personal or in business, CBS News reported.
Earlier this year, Lutnick also told lawmakers that he and Epstein exchanged about 10 emails and met three times over the 14 years—first in 2005 at Epstein’s home, then in 2012 for lunch on the island and another meeting to discuss scaffolding in Epstein’s foyer—saying he never witnessed anything inappropriate, Reuters and NBC News reports.
Following the interview, Democratic Representative Ro Khanna of California called out Lutnick for his “embarrassing” responses.
“If Donald Trump had seen the video transcript, he would have fired Howard Lutnick. It was really embarrassing. He was asked very straightforward questions about whether he regretted misleading the American people. I mean, he said that he would never see Epstein again in 2005, and everyone knows that he took his wife and kids to see Epstein in 2012,” Khanna said.
“It was just contortions and lies and no acknowledgment that he mislead the American public,” Khanna added, saying that Lutnick made a “farce of the English language” attempting to define “I” as it related to never seeing Epstein again.
In an emailed statement to Newsweek on Wednesday, DNC Rapid Response Director Kendall Witmer reacted to Lutnick’s interview, saying, “Howard Lutnick has already lied about his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein — and it seems like there’s more he’s still not being honest about. Despite their claims, it’s clear that Lutnick and Donald Trump were friends with Epstein — so it’s no wonder the Trump administration spent months stonewalling the release of the Epstein files. Instead of hiding behind closed doors and blocking the full release of the files, Trump, Lutnick, and the rest of this administration owe the American people transparency and accountability.”
What Jeffrey Epstein Files Said About Howard Lutnick
Emails in a January Justice Department release indicated Lutnick had lunch on Epstein’s island in 2012 and invited Epstein to a 2015 fundraiser for Hillary Clinton at his financial firm, Reuters reports, which contrasted with prior public claims that he cut off contact with Epstein in 2005.
A large tranche of Justice Department files released this year also showed Lutnick reached out to Epstein as early as 2009 and remained in sporadic contact through 2018, NBC News reports.
Related Articles
