Weather 
NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
The House Oversight Committee’s probe into late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein is turning focus to another high-profile Trump administration figure this week.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick is voluntarily appearing before the congressional panel on Wednesday for a transcribed interview regarding his prior relationship with Epstein, who died by suicide in 2019 after being indicted on federal sex trafficking charges.
Lutnick’s agreement to speak to the committee came after Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., pledged to force a vote to subpoena his testimony.
It is unclear how many lawmakers will attend, as the House of Representatives is in a district work period, also known as recess, this week. Still, Lutnick could face a grilling from House Oversight Committee Ranking Member Robert Garcia, D-Calif., and other Democrats who have accused him of hiding the full scope of his past ties to Epstein.
HOUSE OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE DEMANDS DEPOSITIONS FROM BONDI AND LUTNICK IN EPSTEIN PROBE
“The Secretary looks forward to addressing any questions on the record when he testifies voluntarily before the Oversight Committee,” a Department of Commerce spokesperson told Fox News Digital. “He looks forward to putting to rest the inaccurate and baseless claims in the media designed to distract from his historic work underway at the Commerce Department.”
Lutnick, a billionaire businessman and former CEO of Wall Street firm Cantor Fitzgerald, said during an interview with the New York Post last year that he broke off ties with Epstein in 2005. The two were formerly next-door neighbors in Manhattan’s Upper East Side neighborhood — their townhomes shared a wall.
However, the Commerce secretary conceded in a Senate hearing in February that he and his family had a brief lunch with Epstein in 2012 at his private Caribbean island after files dropped showing their contact continued beyond 2005.
“We left with all of my children, with my nannies and my wife. All together. We were on a family vacation,” Lutnick told lawmakers. “I don’t recall why we did it, but we did.”
That visit to the island came four years after Epstein was found guilty in Florida state court of soliciting a minor for prostitution. The disgraced financier served just 13 months in prison while being given immunity from federal prosecution, which critics have called a sweetheart deal.
Congressional Democrats seized on the discrepancies in Lutnick’s accounts during his testimony before the House Budget Committee in April.
HAKEEM JEFFRIES REFUSES THREE TIMES TO ANSWER QUESTION ABOUT APPROPRIATENESS OF PLASKETT’S EPSTEIN MESSAGES
“Why did you lie about your relationship with Jeffrey Epstein?” Rep. Madeleine Dean, D-Pa., asked Lutnick during the tense hearing.
Lutnick did not answer the question directly, instead arguing that Dean’s inquiry was not relevant to the hearing topic: the Commerce Department’s budget request for the upcoming fiscal year.
The commerce secretary has maintained that his connection to Epstein was limited, and he has not been accused of any wrongdoing.
House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., praised Lutnick’s decision to appear for a transcribed interview.
“I commend his demonstrated commitment to transparency and appreciate his willingness to engage with the Committee,” Comer said in a March statement to Fox News Digital. “I look forward to his testimony.”
Lutnick is not the only Trump administration official to face questions this month as part of the committee’s Epstein probe.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
Former Attorney General Pam Bondi is scheduled to sit for a transcribed interview on May 29 after being subpoenaed by Comer’s committee. Democrats and a handful of Republicans had vowed to pursue contempt charges against Bondi over her handling of Epstein files if she did not agree to testify before the committee.
Fox News Digital reached out to the White House but did not hear back before publication.
Read the full article here
