Epstein Probe Widens as Top Trump Official Agrees to Face House Panel

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick will testify to the House panel investigating the high-profile links to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. 

“Secretary Lutnick has proactively agreed to appear voluntarily before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform,” Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., said in a public statement on Tuesday. 

The committee did not provide a date for the testimony. 

“I commend his demonstrated commitment to transparency and appreciate his willingness to engage with the Committee,” Comer continued. “I look forward to his testimony.”

Lutnick told Axios, “I look forward to appearing before the committee. I have done nothing wrong and I want to set the record straight.”

Last week, Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., and Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., wrote a letter to Lutnick calling for him to turn over all records about his connection to Epstein. 

President Donald Trump has called Lutnick “a very innocent guy.”

The Justice Department released files on Epstein that showed Lutnick was at Epstein’s home in 2011, and his family met with Epstein at the private island in 2012. 

Lutnick initially said that he had not talked to Epstein since 2005, which was before Epstein was convicted in June 2008 in Florida for soliciting prostitution from a minor. 

Lutnick told the Senate Appropriations Committee on Feb. 10 he “barely had anything to do with” Epstein. He said to the Senate panel he didn’t recall why he had the 2011 and 2012 meetings. 

Last week, former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton gave depositions to the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee about their ties to Epstein.

The committee has also deposed former Attorney General Bill Barr about the Justice Department’s investigation of Epstein.