Lutnick’s relationship with the late financier and intercourse offender has come beneath scrutiny after recordsdata revealed nearer ties than beforehand identified.
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US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick has agreed to give testimony to lawmakers about his ties to Jeffrey Epstein, the top of a committee investigating the late intercourse offender has mentioned.
Lutnick, who lived subsequent door to Epstein in New York for greater than a decade, “proactively agreed” to offer a transcribed interview to the Home Committee on Oversight and Authorities Reform, panel chair James Comer mentioned on Tuesday.
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“I commend his demonstrated dedication to transparency and respect his willingness to have interaction with the Committee. I sit up for his testimony,” Comer, a Kentucky Republican, mentioned on X.
Axios, which first reported the commerce secretary’s intention to testify, quoted Lutnick as saying he had achieved nothing incorrect and he wished to “set the report straight”.
Lutnick’s relationship with Epstein, who died in 2019 whereas awaiting intercourse trafficking fees, has come beneath mounting scrutiny after he appeared to misrepresent the extent of his associations with the infamous financier.
In a podcast interview final yr, Lutnick mentioned he determined to “by no means be within the room” with Epstein once more following an uncomfortable encounter on the intercourse offender’s Manhattan penthouse in 2005.
However recordsdata launched by the Justice Division earlier this yr confirmed that Lutnick met and communicated with Epstein for years after the reported 2005 encounter, and the commerce secretary later acknowledged that he visited the financier’s non-public island of Little Saint James in 2012.
Comer mentioned on Tuesday that he had additionally despatched letters to seven people in search of written testimony about their data of Epstein’s crimes, together with Microsoft cofounder Invoice Gates, non-public fairness investor Leon Black, and high Goldman Sachs lawyer Kathryn Ruemmler.
Gates, Black and Ruemmler have repeatedly denied wrongdoing in reference to Epstein, or having data of his abuse of ladies and women.
The committee’s requests for testimony come after former US President Invoice Clinton and his spouse, ex-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, appeared earlier than lawmakers final week to reply questions on their ties to Epstein.
Invoice Clinton instructed the committee he did nothing incorrect and “noticed nothing that ever gave me pause” whereas interacting with Epstein.
Hillary Clinton instructed lawmakers she had no recollection of encountering Epstein and that she by no means “flew on his airplane or visited his island house or workplaces”.
