Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick confirmed on Tuesday that he and his household had lunch with Jeffrey Epstein on the disgraced financier and convicted intercourse offender’s Caribbean island in 2012, at the same time as he insisted the 2 did not have a relationship.
“I did have lunch with him, as I was on a boat going across on a family vacation. My wife was with me, as were my four children and nannies,” Lutnick informed a congressional committee Tuesday. “We had lunch on the island, that is true, for an hour, and we left with all of my children with my nannies and my wife… I don’t recall why we did it.”
But Lutnick denied that he and Epstein, who met when they lived in neighboring homes in New York, had deeper ties.
“Of these millions and millions of documents, there may be 10 emails connecting me with him… over a 14 year period,” Lutnick informed senators. “I did not have any relationship with him. I barely had anything to do with that person.”
The feedback increase new questions concerning the extent of Lutnick’s ties to Epstein and his characterization of their interactions prior to now. Republican Rep. Thomas Massie, a co-author of the legislation that compelled the discharge of the Epstein files, had beforehand referred to as on Lutnick to resign over his hyperlinks to the late intercourse offender. And even earlier than the commerce secretary’s remarks on Tuesday, the information had undercut Lutnick’s description of getting minimize ties with Epstein in 2005.
The questions on the listening to – ostensibly about broadband funding deployment – additionally underscored how the most recent launch of Epstein information has shaken authorities and enterprise figures all over the world.
In the UK, Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s leadership is in query after key aides have resigned in Epstein fallout. In Norway, Crown Princess Mette-Marit is going through questions on her health to sometime function queen as her apparently pleasant relationship has come to gentle.
At Tuesday’s listening to, Democratic senators questioning Lutnick acknowledged he was not accused of wrongdoing. But they mentioned his earlier statements on Jeffrey Epstein had misled them.
Lutnick claimed in an interview last year with the New York Post’s “Pod Force One” that after a 2005 encounter at Epstein’s house, he grew uncomfortable and vowed that he would “never be in the room with that disgusting person ever again.” Lutnick mentioned he noticed a therapeutic massage desk in the midst of the house and that Epstein informed him he acquired a therapeutic massage “every day.”
“And then he like gets, like, weirdly, close to me and he says, ‘And the right kind of massage,’” Lutnick mentioned.
Lutnick mentioned that after that interplay, “I was never in the room with him socially for business or even philanthropy. If that guy was there, I wasn’t going, because he’s gross.”
“The issue here is that he totally misled the American public, the survivors, the Congress,” mentioned Sen. Chris Van Hollen, a Maryland Democrat, of Lutnick’s earlier declare {that a} 2005 encounter left him pondering Epstein was a “disgusting guy” and “clearly left the country with the impression that he had no further contact with Jeffrey Epstein.”
“That just turns out not to be true, which completely undermines his credibility,” Van Hollen informed NCS’s Manu Raju, including that Lutnick’s admission after the discharge of the information that he had visited Epstein’s island with his household is “extremely bad judgment.”
“The credibility is at the core of this issue, because he again suggested that he had had no further contact with this guy who he called disgusting. And then years later, he’s on the private island with the guy he called disgusting, and bringing kids and nannies. So I think, I think the secretary still has a lot of explaining to do,” he mentioned.
Sens. Chris Coons and Jeff Merkley, Democrats on the committee, steered to reporters that Lutnick ought to resign if he couldn’t present a deeper rationalization of his interactions with Epstein.
The White House, although, has proven no indication President Donald Trump is able to transfer on from Lutnick.
“President Trump has assembled the best and most transformative cabinet in modern history. The entire Trump administration, including Secretary Lutnick and the Department of Commerce, remains focused on delivering for the American people,” White House spokesman Kush Desai informed NCS in an announcement Monday.