Lutnick testified for nearly four hours in a closed-door, transcribed interview, after it was revealed he had visited Epstein’s island. While Democrats slammed Lutnick for lying in the interview, Republicans said he was “forthcoming.”
“The Democrats, during their hour, repeated the exact same questions because there’s only so many questions you can ask Howard Lutnick, who lived, had a property next door to Epstein in New York, talked to him three times over a decade,” House oversight committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY) told reporters.
“He was on the island with his family, with his wife and kids, six people in his family and six people in his French family for lunch for two hours, and he has admitted that,” Comer continued.
Rep. Yassamin Ansari (D-AZ), who flew in from Arizona for the transcribed interview, told the Washington Examiner he was “lying over and over again” and that he should resign.
“It just demonstrates the culture of enabling these crimes and allowing rich and powerful people like Jeffrey Epstein to continue because people like Howard Lutnick knew these things were happening and continue to engage and legitimize,” Ansari told reporters.
Ansari clarified that Lutnick went to Epstein’s island in 2012, “after it was known in 2008 that Epstein had solicited sex from a minor,” adding that she was not saying the secretary committed any crimes by going, but was enabling the “culture.”
Lutnick’s testimony comes as the committee has been conducting an extensive investigation into the crimes related to Epstein, and as the Justice Department has released millions of documents. The committee has already conducted nine other interviews, including with former President Bill Clinton, former Secretary of State Hilary Clinton, former Attorney General Bill Barr, Epstein’s former associate and girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell, and billionaire Les Wexner.
A person familiar with the committee’s investigation told the Washington Examiner that Epstein and Lutnick were neighbors from 2005 to 2019. According to Comer, they only had three meetings together during that entire time.
The first interaction occurred when Lutnick and his wife met with Epstein at his home when they became neighbors. Lutnick said Epstein provided a short tour of his home, and when he saw a massage table on the premises, he decided to end the visit.
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The two also met another time in 2011 to discuss a project on Epstein’s home, which could impact his neighbors. In 2012, Lutnick and his family were also invited to Epstein’s home while in the U.S. Virgin Islands, where they had a short lunch.
Lutnick claimed he never saw Epstein with any young women and never witnessed anything inappropriate with young women, but has stated differing accounts of his interactions.
