{"id":22347,"date":"2026-05-06T20:17:28","date_gmt":"2026-05-06T20:17:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/lutnick-admits-to-having-prolonged-ties-to-epstein-in-closed-door-interview\/"},"modified":"2026-05-06T20:17:28","modified_gmt":"2026-05-06T20:17:28","slug":"lutnick-admits-to-having-prolonged-ties-to-epstein-in-closed-door-interview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/lutnick-admits-to-having-prolonged-ties-to-epstein-in-closed-door-interview\/","title":{"rendered":"Lutnick admits to having prolonged ties to Epstein in closed-door interview"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

For reasons he said were \u201cinexplicable,\u201d Howard Lutnick acknowledged visiting Jeffrey Epstein\u2019s island seven years after he claimed to have severed his relationship with the convicted sex offender, according to lawmakers present for the Commerce Secretary\u2019s closed-door testimony Wednesday.<\/p>\n

The acknowledgment, however, did not satisfy Democrats on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee participating in Wednesday\u2019s interview with Lutnick as part of the panel\u2019s ongoing investigation into Epstein\u2019s crimes and the powerful people in his orbit.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was evasive, nervous \u2014 he was dishonest,\u201d Rep. Suhas Subramanyam (D-Va.) told reporters during a break in the hourslong proceedings. \u201cHe would not admit to lying, which he clearly did.\u201d<\/p>\n

In an interview, Rep. Yassamin Ansari (D-Ariz.) further suggested that if her party retook the House majority, Democrats could call Lutnick back in for additional questioning in a public hearing \u2014 or, at the very least, testify under oath on video.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey deserve to see the sweat on the secretary’s brow as he struggles to answer basic questions about his lies to the American people,\u201d said Rep. James Walkinshaw (D-Va.).<\/p>\n

Lutnick appeared before lawmakers Wednesday for a transcribed interview, not a deposition, meaning he did not need to take an oath of honesty and the proceedings were not recorded on video.<\/p>\n

Still, House Oversight Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) warned, \u201cIf we find that there were any misstatements by Lutnick, it’s a felony to lie to Congress, and you’ll be held accountable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Comer also defended his decision not to require Lutnick\u2019s interview be videotaped, saying the panel would release a transcript to the public and it will be up to the American people to \u201cjudge whether [Lutnick\u2019s] credibility was damaged or not.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lutnick has not been accused of any wrongdoing in connection with Epstein\u2019s crimes. But he has been under scrutiny from members of both parties since federal materials in the Epstein matter revealed the longtime Cantor Fitzgerald CEO visited Epstein\u2019s now-infamous retreat in the U.S. Virgin Islands in 2012. He had originally said he broke ties with Epstein in 2005.<\/p>\n

But the stakes are high for Lutnick \u2014 the first Cabinet secretary to testify before the Oversight Committee with a congressional majority of the same party in recent history, according to Comer. Prior administration officials were ousted by President Donald Trump soon after politically damaging appearances before lawmakers on Capitol Hill \u2014 notably Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Attorney General Pam Bondi.<\/p>\n

Even the Kentucky Republican acknowledged to reporters before the interview Wednesday that Lutnick \u201cwasn’t 100 percent truthful\u201d in the past when describing the timeline of his relationship with Epstein.<\/p>\n

According to one person granted anonymity to describe the closed-door proceedings, Lutnick told the Oversight panel that he was neighbors with Epstein between 2005 and 2019.<\/p>\n

Around the time that Lutnick and Epstein became neighbors, Lutnick and his wife met Epstein for a 10-to-15 minute coffee, during which time he received a tour of Epstein\u2019s home and viewed a massage table that has become synonymous with Epstein\u2019s sexual exploitation of trafficked women, the person added.<\/p>\n

Lutnick told congressional investigators that he decided then he did not want to associate with Epstein. But Lutnick admitted he, his family, and friends had a short lunch in 2012 at Epstein\u2019s island home, according to the person with knowledge of the interview. He recalled being unsettled that Epstein\u2019s assistant had found out he was in the U.S. Virgin Islands to extend the invitation in the first place.<\/p>\n

Committee Democrats told reporters that Lutnick ultimately could not explain why he went to Epstein\u2019s island, with Ansari saying the Cabinet official described the decision as \u201cinexplicable\u201d and that their interactions were \u201cmeaningless\u201d and \u201cinconsequential.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lutnick also said he and Epstein met in 2011 to discuss renovations on Epstein\u2019s home in Manhattan and that he never saw Epstein engage in inappropriate conduct with young women, the person familiar with the interview said.<\/p>\n

Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) said that Lutnick admitted to conferring with the administration about the Epstein saga. But, Walkinshaw said, Lutnick would not answer questions about whether he spoke with Trump in advance of his testimony Wednesday.<\/p>\n

A Commerce spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n

Comer and Rep. William Timmons of South Carolina were the only Republicans present for the testimony Wednesday. But Comer disputed the accusation he was intentionally scheduling interviews with high-profile witnesses like Lutnick during congressional recess weeks or session days where most members fly back to their districts.<\/p>\n

He also did not rule out videotaping the committee\u2019s upcoming interview with Bondi, whose testimony was subpoenaed prior to her removal from office. She is scheduled to appear before the panel on May 29.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For reasons he said were \u201cinexplicable,\u201d Howard Lutnick acknowledged visiting Jeffrey Epstein\u2019s island seven years after he claimed to have severed his relationship with the convicted sex offender, according to lawmakers present for the Commerce Secretary\u2019s closed-door testimony Wednesday. The acknowledgment, however, did not satisfy Democrats on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee participating […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22347","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-congress"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22347","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22347"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22347\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22347"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22347"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22347"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}