Top House Republican says it’s ‘very possible’ Trump Commerce Secretary Lutnick will be deposed over Epstein
Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox
Get our free Inside Washington email
Get our free Inside Washington email
House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer told reporters Thursday that it’s “very possible” his panel will compel Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick to give evidence over his relationship with sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and his co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell as part of the committee’s long-running probe into the infamous criminals.
Speaking in Chappaqua, New York as he prepared to lead a deposition of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton as part of the same probe, Comer was asked if the panel would consider a subpoena for Lutnick, a longtime friend of President Donald Trump who had unsuccessfully pushed to become Treasury Secretary after serving as the finance chief for he 2024 campaign.
He replied: “I that’s very possible, and I think it’s a good possibility that his name will arise in some questioning today.”
Comer defended his committee’s decision to compel testimony from Clinton and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, by noting that they’d already heard testimony from two ex-Trump cabinet members.
“So this isn’t just about Democrats. This is about anyone that has any knowledge of Epstein,” he said.
The chairman’s suggestion that Lutnick could soon be facing a congressional subpoena comes after weeks of increased scrutiny of his relationship with Epstein, his onetime next-door neighbor in New York, after documents released by the Justice Department showed that he’d lied during an interview with the New York Post in October when he’d claimed to have cut off contact with Epstein after a 2005 encounter that he claimed had left him so unsettled that he’d vowed to “never be in the room with that disgusting person ever again.”
(Getty)
The documents released as part of the “Epstein Files” included emails which showed that Lutnick not only maintained ties with Epstein as late as 2018 — the year before he was indicted on federal sex trafficking charges and long after he’d spent time in jail for state-level offenses related to his preying on young girls — but even arranged a visit to Epstein’s so-called “rape island” in 2012.
Being mentioned or pictured in the Epstein files does not indicate guilt.
The commerce secretary admitted to visiting the infamous landmass, which is part of the U.S. Virgin Islands, during sworn testimony before the Senate Commerce Committee on February 11.
Asked about the documents by Sen. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, Lutnick admitted to visiting the island but denied anything inappropriate about the trip.
“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,” he said.
“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.”
Lutnick also claimed in his testimony that he “did not have any relationship with” Epstein and “barely had anything to do with that person.”
In the weeks since his appearance before the Senate panel, lawmakers from both parties have called on Lutnick to step down from his administration post. But President Donald Trump has refused to sack him and has continued to keep him close by bringing him on multiple trips aboard Air Force One.
