Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick is set to testify Wednesday before the House Oversight Committee about his ties to Jeffrey Epstein as bipartisan calls for his resignation mount.
Unlike some of the others who have testified before the Republican-led panel as part of its sprawling Epstein probe, Lutnick’s testimony will not be a deposition but rather a transcribed interview. This means his interview won’t be video-recorded, and he won’t be under oath. (It’s illegal to lie to Congress regardless of whether one is under oath.) A transcript of the interview is expected to be released at a later date.
Lutnick’s association with the late sex offender was revealed in documents released in January by the Justice Department as part of the Epstein Files Transparency Act.
The billionaire and former Wall Street investment banker previously denied the extent of his connection to Epstein, who died in a Manhattan jail in 2019. In a podcast interview last year, the Trump Cabinet official said he cut ties with the disgraced financier in 2005.
But the DOJ’s document dump of more than 3 million files related to federal investigations into Epstein contradicted his account.
In February, Lutnick acknowledged he visited Epstein’s private island in the U.S. Virgin Islands with his wife, children and nannies in 2012.
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Last month, during Lutnick’s testimony in front of the Senate Appropriations Committee, Democrats grilled him about Epstein and what he knew about Epstein’s purported interest in a Lutnick family nanny.
Lutnick said he knew nothing about that, adding that the visit to the island was an hourlong lunch with his family while they were on vacation.
Lutnick has denied wrongdoing, and just as with other prominent individuals, his mere appearance in the Epstein files does not imply guilt.
Donald Trump’s commerce secretary is one of several high-profile figures to testify about Epstein before the House Oversight Committee, including former President Bill Clinton, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and billionaire Les Wexner. Former Attorney General Pam Bondi is scheduled to come before the panel on May 29, and billionaire Bill Gates is set to appear on June 10.
Mychael Schnell contributed reporting.
Erum Salam is a breaking news reporter for MS NOW, with a focus on how global events and foreign policy shape U.S. politics. She previously was a breaking news reporter for The Guardian.