Daijiworld Media Network – Washington
Washington, May 7: US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick faced intense questioning from lawmakers during closed-door congressional testimony after acknowledging that he and his family had lunch with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein on Epstein’s private island in 2012.
The testimony reportedly contradicted earlier public remarks made by Lutnick, the former chief executive of Cantor Fitzgerald, in which he claimed he had distanced himself from Epstein years earlier and vowed never to associate with him again.
According to Democratic Representative Suhas Subramanyam, lawmakers repeatedly questioned Lutnick about the purpose of the island visit. “He says he doesn’t remember and couldn’t explain why he went there,” Subramanyam told reporters after the hearing.
Lutnick had previously stated during a podcast appearance last year that he stopped interacting with Epstein around 2005 after the financier allegedly made inappropriate remarks while showing him and his wife around his Manhattan townhouse. The two were reportedly neighbours on New York’s Upper East Side.
Republican Representative James Comer, who chairs the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, said Lutnick voluntarily cooperated with investigators and clarified details regarding the visit.
According to Comer, Lutnick explained that his family was vacationing in the Virgin Islands when Epstein invited them for lunch on the island. Comer added that any false statements made before Congress could carry serious legal consequences.
Documents released earlier this year by the US Justice Department reportedly included emails suggesting Lutnick visited Epstein’s island in 2012 and later invited him to a 2015 fundraiser for former US presidential candidate Hillary Clinton hosted by his financial firm.
During earlier congressional testimony in February, Howard Lutnick maintained that he had minimal interaction with Epstein over the years, claiming they exchanged only a limited number of emails and met only a few times across more than a decade.
Jeffrey Epstein pleaded guilty in 2008 to prostitution-related charges involving a minor and later faced federal sex trafficking charges in 2019. He died in a Manhattan jail cell later that year in what authorities ruled a suicide.