Howard Lutnick Suddenly Changes Entire Story About His Epstein Ties

Source: The New Republic · Bias: Left

Summary

Democrats on the House Oversight Committee claimed Wednesday that Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick lied several times during his testimony about his ties to Jeffrey Epstein. During a closed-door hearing to discuss his ties to the alleged sex trafficker, Lutnick reneged on his past claims about Epstein recording his guests’ sexual misconduct and using it to blackmail them, Representative Ro Khanna told reporters after the hearing. Lutnick had previously called Epstein “the greatest blackmailer ever.”“So, somebody obviously got to him, from the administration. In fact, he said he talked to people in the administration and that’s why he’s changed his tune,” Khanna said. “And the question is not just why he’s lying, the question is why he’s covering up. The question is why he’s no longer willing to share what he knows about Epstein’s abhorrent behavior. “If Donald Trump had seen the video transcript he would’ve fired Howard Lutnick. It was very embarrassing,” the California Democrat added.Lutnick swore in an interview last year he did not see Epstein after 2005, but he did coordinate a family trip (with his young kids) to the financier’s “pedophile island” in 2012. Lutnick previously confirmed that he’d kept in touch with Epstein over the years, even after Epstein was convicted of soliciting prostitution from a minor.“Howard Lutnick should resign,” Virginia Representative Suhas Subramanyam told reporters following the hearing. “That was absolutely mind-boggling, what we just heard in the room. He was evasive, nervous. He was dishonest.”“He would not admit to lying, which he clearly did in the podcast,” Subramanyam referring to Lutnick’s remarks on the New York Post’s Pod Force One in October 2025, when the secretary claimed that after meeting Epstein, he decided he would “never be in the room with that disgusting person ever again.”“I had to ask him whether he and I were in the same room, just now, because I couldn’t understand his meaning of ‘we were in the same room together,’” Subramanyam said. Lutnick also refused to provide any explanation for why he and his family traveled to Epstein’s island.“We asked him over and over again, ‘Why did you go to the island?’ He says he doesn’t remember, that it was inexplicable, and he simply didn’t know how to answer the question at that point,” Subramanyam said.

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Howard Lutnick Suddenly Changes Entire Story About His Epstein Ties
The New Republic

Howard Lutnick Suddenly Changes Entire Story About His Epstein Ties

Left

Democrats on the House Oversight Committee claimed Wednesday that Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick lied several times during his testimony about his ties to Jeffrey Epstein. During a closed-door hearing to discuss his ties to the alleged sex trafficker, Lutnick reneged on his past claims about Epstein recording his guests’ sexual misconduct and using it to blackmail them, Representative Ro Khanna told reporters after the hearing. Lutnick had previously called Epstein “the greatest blackmailer ever.”“So, somebody obviously got to him, from the administration. In fact, he said he talked to people in the administration and that’s why he’s changed his tune,” Khanna said. “And the question is not just why he’s lying, the question is why he’s covering up. The question is why he’s no longer willing to share what he knows about Epstein’s abhorrent behavior. “If Donald Trump had seen the video transcript he would’ve fired Howard Lutnick. It was very embarrassing,” the California Democrat added.Lutnick swore in an interview last year he did not see Epstein after 2005, but he did coordinate a family trip (with his young kids) to the financier’s “pedophile island” in 2012. Lutnick previously confirmed that he’d kept in touch with Epstein over the years, even after Epstein was convicted of soliciting prostitution from a minor.“Howard Lutnick should resign,” Virginia Representative Suhas Subramanyam told reporters following the hearing. “That was absolutely mind-boggling, what we just heard in the room. He was evasive, nervous. He was dishonest.”“He would not admit to lying, which he clearly did in the podcast,” Subramanyam referring to Lutnick’s remarks on the New York Post’s Pod Force One in October 2025, when the secretary claimed that after meeting Epstein, he decided he would “never be in the room with that disgusting person ever again.”“I had to ask him whether he and I were in the same room, just now, because I couldn’t understand his meaning of ‘we were in the same room together,’” Subramanyam said. Lutnick also refused to provide any explanation for why he and his family traveled to Epstein’s island.“We asked him over and over again, ‘Why did you go to the island?’ He says he doesn’t remember, that it was inexplicable, and he simply didn’t know how to answer the question at that point,” Subramanyam said.

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