Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick on Wednesday was grilled by Democrats and members of his own party during a closed-door hearing before the House Oversight Committee, over his relationship with the convicted sex offender — and his former neighbor — Jeffrey Epstein.
Despite conflicting statements Lutnick had previously made about the duration and nature of his friendship with Epstein, who was accused of sex trafficking women and girls, Rep. James Comer, Republican chair of the Oversight Committee described Lutnick's account during the hearing as "forthcoming," while committee Democrats cast the secretary's testimony as evasive.
Speaking to reporters ahead of the hearing, Comer said Lutnick's inconsistent narrative about whether he'd been on Epstein's infamous island "wasn't 100% truthful." But, according to committee Democrats who spoke to reporters after the closed-door session, Comer ultimately determined that the Trump appointee had committed no wrongdoing.
"There's only so many questions you can ask Howard Lutnick, who had a property next door to Epstein in New York," Comer told reporters while Democrats questioned Lutnick. The committee chair insisted that the two had spoken and interacted on only three occasions over a decade.
"He's been very forthcoming with those interactions," Comer said.
"We're bringing in some of the richest and most powerful people in the world. We're doing everything in our ability to get answers." he added.
Several democrats emerged from the hearing outraged by Comer's take, and accused Lutnick of outright lying.
"What we heard was hours of testimony where Lutnick was attempting to redefine the meaning of the word 'I,' " Rep. James Walkinshaw, D-Va., told reporters after the hearing.
"He claims that when he said, 'I would never be in a room again with Jeffrey Epstein,' he meant only him and Jeffrey Epstein. Epstein was so gross to him that he wasn't willing to be in a room with him, but he was perfectly OK with his wife and family being in a room with Epstein," Walkinshaw said, adding that the hearing should have been televised so that the American public could "see the sweat on his brow" as Lutnick answered questions.
California Democrat Rep. Ro Khanna called Lutnick's testimony "embarrassing" and described his responses as "contortions and lies."
"Now we know why that interview was not videotaped," Khanna said. "If Donald Trump had seen the video transcript, he would've fired Howard Lutnick."
Comer, meanwhile, insisted Lutnick would be held accountable for any misstatements he may have made: "It's a felony to lie to Congress," he said.
James Marsh, an attorney representing some of Epstein's victims, did not attend the hearing but said in a statement that while Lutnick's hearing offers "a step towards potential clarity," it "does not provide any real substance for identifying" alleged perpetrators of Epstein's network. "Past proceedings and depositions have repeatedly failed to even name, let alone hold accountable, those who carried out or enabled Epstein's crimes," Marsh said.
He added: "Every single member of his criminal enterprise must finally face the full force of justice; survivors deserve more than performative oversight. After being silenced for decades, their courage should not be met with more confusion or political rigmarole, but with the accountability they have long been denied."
The Commerce Department said in a statement prior to the hearing that Lutnick, who volunteered to face the committee's scrutiny, looked forward to "putting to rest the inaccurate and baseless claims in the media."
Lutnick is the highest-ranking member of Trump's Cabinet named in the Epstein files to speak to the House Oversight Committee about the more than 3 million pages of documents and images from criminal investigations into the late financier that were released by the Trump administration. Epstein, who died in a New York prison cell in 2019.
Appearing in the files is not necessarily an indication of criminal wrongdoing.
In Lutnick's case, his name appears more than a hundred times in the files, including in many email exchanges directly with Epstein. Lutnick has profusely denied having a close relationship with him, instead portraying Epstein as an acquaintance. Lutnick previously said that he cut ties with Epstein in 2005, but records in the Epstein files, as well as his own subsequent testimony, confirm that the two were in contact long after that.
In a New York Post podcast interview last year, Lutnick said Epstein gave him and his wife a tour of his Manhattan townhouse — including his "massage room" which was the site of alleged rapes and abuse — after they moved in next door in 2005. Lutnick said they quickly excused themselves and "in the six to eight steps it takes to get from his house to my house, my wife and I decided that I will never be in the room with that disgusting person ever again." He added: "So I was never in the room with him socially, for business or even philanthropy."
The Epstein files show that Lutnick and Epstein went into business together in 2012: They signed agreements on the same day to buy stakes in a now-defunct digital advertising technology firm called Adfin. Lutnick communicated with Epstein through Epstein's assistant as recently as 2018.
The files also suggest that Lutnick, his wife and four children had lunch with Epstein on his private Caribbean island in 2012. Lutnick confirmed that in a February Senate Appropriations committee hearing, telling lawmakers that the lunch lasted an hour.
"And we left with all of my children, with my nannies and my wife all together," he said. "We were on family vacation."
In the same February hearing, Lutnick downplayed his association with Epstein. He described their contact as a handful of emails and phone calls years apart, adding: "I did not have any relationship with him. I barely had anything to do with him."
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters in February that "Secretary Lutnick remains a very important member of President Trump's team, and the president fully supports the secretary."
President Trump's name appears thousands of times in the files, which include an accusation that he sexually assaulted a minor. Trump has denied the allegations.
Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have called for Lutnick's resignation, accusing him of mischaracterizing his ties to Epstein. Lutnick has said he has "nothing to hide" regarding that relationship, and agreed in March to appear voluntarily for a closed-door interview with the House Oversight Committee.
Lutnick is one of several high-profile individuals scheduled to speak to the committee about Epstein in the coming weeks. They include billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates, who is mentioned in the files, and former U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, who was ousted in April after facing criticism over her handling of them.
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