Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick refused to answer questions as he was shuttled in and out of his hearing on Capitol Hill surrounded by security guards.
The billionaire turned top Trump official appeared at a Senate subcomittee hearing Tuesday where he was confronted by Democratic lawmakers about Jeffrey Epstein after newly released documents contradicted claims he cut ties with the pedophile some twenty years ago.
Outside the room, however, he refused to respond to reporters as his security kept media away.
As NBC News’ Ryan Nobles put it “Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick refused to answer our questions about his connection to Jeffrey Epstein on the way into his hearing this morning. On the way out his security detail pushed the press back to prevent us from asking him anything else.”
But Lutnick’s security could not shield him from questions when he came face to face with senators inside the room.
The Cabinet member was quickly confronted about his Epstein ties and accused of misleading the American public by Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen, who asked him about visiting the pedophile’s private island in December 2012.
“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?” Van Hollen asked.
“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 said. “Over the next fourteen years, I met him two other times that I can recall. Two times. And that is none for six years.”
He insisted there were about ten emails connecting him to the convicted sex offender over 14 years.
“I did not have any relationship with him. I barely had anything to do with that person. Okay?” he declared.
But Lutnick was then forced to admit that he did visit Epstein’s private island in 2012 with his wife, children and another family, despite previously claiming he cut ties with Epstein in 2005.
“I did have lunch with him as I was on a boat going across on a family vacation,” Lutnick said slowly. “My wife was with me, as were my four children and nannies.”
He insisted that he did not observe anything inappropriate during his visit.
Van Hollen acknowledged that Lutnick was not accused of any wrongdoing in connection to Epstein, but he did question why the commerce secretary had claimed he distanced himself from the pedophile but still went to the island after Epstein was convicted of soliciting prostitution from a minor.
The commerce secretary has been facing bipartisan calls to resign after the latest Epstein documents showed his contact with the disgraced financier extended beyond their first encounter in 2005.
But Speaker Mike Johnson on Tuesday defended Trump’s close friend and Cabinet official. He argued that Lutnick should not resign and called it “absurd.”
When asked by CNN if he had any concerns about Lutnick’s ties to Epstein, Johnson quickly responded: “I don’t know anything about it,” but he trusts the secretary’s word.
“Secretary Lutnick remains a very important member of President Trump’s team, and the president fully supports the secretary,” she said.
