Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick speaks during a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing in the Dirksen Senate Office Building near the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on February 10. Photo by Bonnie Cash/UPI | License Photo
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick agreed to be interviewed by the House Committee on Oversight and Reform about his ties to convicted sex abuser Jeffrey Epstein, the committee chairman announced Tuesday.
Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., said Lutnick “proactively agreed to appear voluntarily” before the panel a week after committee members suggested he might be called to testify.
“I commend his demonstrated commitment to transparency and appreciate his willingness to engage with the Committee,” Comer said in a post on X. “I look forward to his testimony.”
Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., on Friday said Lutnick should appear before the committee after a picture of him with Epstein emerged in the Justice Department database of files related to its investigation of Epstein. Lutnick previously admitted he had interactions with — including visiting his Caribbean island with his family — Epstein after the disgraced financier was convicted of procuring a child for prostitution in 2008.
Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., the ranking member on the oversight committee, said Friday that he believed there were enough votes to subpoena Lutnick to force him to give testimony.
Lutnick has not been accused of any wrongdoing connected Epstein’s trafficking and sex abuse of children.
This week in Washington
President Donald Trump and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz hold a bilateral meeting in the Oval Office at the White House on Tuesday. Trump was meeting with Merz just days after the United States and Israel launched widespread attacks on Iran, killing Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and other senior leaders in airstrikes across the region. Photo by Samuel Corum/UPI | License Photo
