Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick was eviscerated by House Democrats after he submitted to questioning over his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein.
Lutnick appeared before the House Oversight Committee for a transcribed interview on Capitol Hill on Wednesday.
He agreed to sit down with lawmakers behind closed doors after it was revealed in released Epstein files that he had closer ties to the convicted sex offender than he publicly let on, including even visiting Epstein’s island with his family.
But Democrats came out of the meeting fuming over Lutnick’s performance, which was being transcribed but not captured on camera after Republicans claimed they did not need to take video of a witness who appeared voluntarily.
“If Donald Trump had seen the video transcript, he would have fired Howard Lutnick,” Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna told reporters. “It was really embarrassing.”
Khanna said that Lutnick was asked very straightforward questions about whether he regretted misleading the American people, but the top Trump official responded with “contortions and lies and no acknowledgment that he misled the American public.”
Lutnick lived next door to the pedophile in Manhattan. He claimed in a New York Post podcast last fall that he visited Epstein’s mansion in 2005 after he moved in but then vowed to “never be in the room” with the financier because of how uncomfortable it made him and his wife.
But emails in the released Epstein documents later showed that Lutnick visited Epstein’s island in 2012 with his family, and there was even an image of the pair together.
In the New York Post podcast taping last year, Lutnick claimed that Epstein was the “greatest blackmailer ever” and assumed he had video recordings.
But the commerce secretary was singing a different tune during his grilling on Wednesday, Democrats said.
“Now he’s saying, well, he was wrong. He was just speculating, and Epstein actually didn’t engage in blackmailing. This raises the question of what the cover-up is,” Khanna said. “Did someone tell him to say that?”
“I’ve not heard that.... Epstein never engaged in blackmail. Why is Howard Lutnick changing his testimony, changing his story?” he added.
The California Democrat argued that “someone obviously got to him.”
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Democrats’ accusations.
A Commerce Department spokesperson told the Daily Beast in a statement: “In a voluntary appearance before the Oversight Committee, Secretary Lutnick answered nearly 400 questions from members and staff, ending only when members said they had nothing more to ask. He explained repeatedly that three encounters do not constitute a relationship. The committee adjourned without identifying any evidence to the contrary.”
“After what we have seen so far in this transcribed interview, I feel very comfortable saying that Howard Lutnick is a pathological liar who is enabling the most egregious cover-up in American history,” said Rep. Yassamin Ansari.
The Arizona Democrat said House members went through the timeline of Lutnick’s interactions with Epstein in excruciating detail.
When Lutnick was asked for details about taking his family to Epstein’s island in 2012 in light of the sex offender being convicted of soliciting a minor in 2008, Democrats say he claimed ignorance of Epstein’s crimes.
“The level of the lies that are taking place inside that room without video is unbelievable,” Ansari said.
Democrats claimed Lutnick was sweating as he struggled to answer basic questions.
While Democrats slammed Lutnick’s performance, House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer claimed that the commerce secretary has been “very transparent.”
“He came in voluntarily,” Comer told reporters.
Lutnick has not been accused of any wrongdoing in connection with Epstein.
