NCS’s Kasie Hunt was visibly exasperated on the Wednesday version of her present whereas discussing Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick’s look within the Epstein recordsdata with NCS’s resident conservative Scott Jennings.
Responding to 2 clips of Lutnick performed again to again—one during which he mentioned he by no means met with Epstein after their first assembly, and the second, taken from his Tuesday appearance on Capitol Hill, during which he admitted to visiting Epstein’s non-public island—Hunt threw up her arms and mentioned, “You can’t make this s— up!” as Jennings defended Lutnick’s lie as a mere “PR blunder.”
Directing her outrage in direction of Jennings, Hunt continued, “You cannot make it up! And his name was redacted in these files!”
“I don’t know why you’re yelling at me,” Jennings replied, prompting NCS political commentator Xochitl Hinojosa to answer, “Because you defend the administration!”
“This is something that was labeled as a conspiracy theory by some people on the left during the campaigns for sure, and you have rightly criticized the Biden administration and others for not doing more about it,” Hunt mentioned to Jennings. “But it turns out that the people that said that there was something really, really, really wrong here that was being covered up were correct.”
Appearing in entrance of the Senate Appropriations subcommittee on Tuesday, Lutnick was questioned about his relationship with Epstein, which was laid naked by the newly-released Epstein recordsdata.
The commerce secretary, who had beforehand denied having a relationship with the convicted intercourse trafficker, instructed the subcommittee that he had nothing to cover, and that regardless of planning a go to to Epstein’s island years after he was first convicted of intercourse crimes, he “barely had anything to do” with Epstein.
“Why do the Epstein files show you coordinating a meeting and planning a visit with Jeffrey Epstein on his private island in December of 2012?” Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen requested.
“I met Jeffrey Epstein when he moved—when I moved to a house next door to him in New York. I met him then,” Lutnick replied. “Over the next fourteen years, I met him two other times that I can recall. Two times. And that is none for six years.”
Lutnick had beforehand claimed on an October episode of the Pod Force One podcast that he had visited Epstein’s house as soon as in 2005 for espresso, been proven the pedophile’s notorious “massage room” and determined by no means to be in a room with him ever once more.
“If that guy was there, I wasn’t going because he’s gross,” Lutnick mentioned within the interview. The Epstein recordsdata revealed that Lutnick continued to work together with Epstein after his 2008 conviction, together with doing enterprise with him and visiting his non-public island.
“I am in agreement with you that this is a horrible public relations blunder,” Jennings mentioned of the lie, including, “He did not commit any crimes. There’s a big difference between committing a PR blunder and lying.”
“It’s a public relations blunder to say in public that you never spent time with a pedophile when in fact you had, and you didn’t actually cop to it until you were forced to and you were under oath?” Hunt replied.
“Of course it’s a blunder. Are you saying it’s not?” Jennings requested Hunt.
“I’m saying that it might be more than a blunder. That perhaps you are understating the case,” Hunt replied.
Several lawmakers called for Lutnick’s resignation following the revelation, together with Sen. Adam Schiff who mentioned, “Howard Lutnick lied to the American people about his ties to Jeffrey Epstein… [He] has no business being our Commerce Secretary, and he should resign immediately.” Republican Sen. Thomas Massie additionally referred to as for Lutnick’s resignation.
President Donald Trump stood by his embattled Commerce Secretary, with White House spokesperson Kush Desai saying in an announcement that failed to deal with the criticisms instantly, “The entire Trump administration, including Secretary Lutnick and the Department of Commerce, remains focused on delivering for the American people.”