Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick sat for a closed-door deposition before the House Oversight Committee on Wednesday to answer questions about his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, and the Republican chairman of the committee left the hearing room with a pointed assessment: Lutnick hadn’t been fully honest.
“We’ll let the American people judge whether the credibility was damaged,” Oversight Chairman James Comer (R-KY) told reporters before the session began. “But at the end of the day, I haven’t seen wrongdoing in the email correspondence. But he wasn’t 100% truthful with whether or not he had been on the island.”
The island in question is Little Saint James, Epstein’s private retreat in the U.S. Virgin Islands where the convicted sex offender hosted wealthy guests for years. Photos released by the Justice Department as part of its trove of Epstein documents show Lutnick on the island in 2012, four years after Epstein pleaded guilty to soliciting a minor for prostitution in Florida.
Lutnick had previously claimed he vowed to never go near Epstein following a “strange encounter” with the financier back in 2005. The photos contradict that timeline.
During a Senate confirmation hearing in February, Lutnick acknowledged the visit and said he was accompanied by his wife, four children, another couple, and their children. He described having lunch with Epstein on the island for roughly an hour during a family vacation. He has not been accused of any wrongdoing tied to Epstein’s crimes.
Comer said the Oversight Committee will continue pressing Lutnick on the island visit. “We haven’t talked to too many people that have admitted they’ve been on the island,” he said. “It’s my understanding he wasn’t on the island very long.”
The full transcript of Lutnick’s deposition is expected to be released by the committee in the coming days.
Lutnick is the first Trump administration official to be questioned under oath before the Oversight Committee on the Epstein investigation. The appearance was voluntary, a fact Comer called notable. “I’ve been on the Oversight Committee 10 years, and there’s never been a chairman [who has brought] in Cabinet secretaries of their own party,” he said.
Democrats on the committee took a harder line. Rep. Robert Garcia (D-CA), the panel’s ranking member, accused Lutnick of lying outright. “It’s now clear that Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has been lying about his relationship with Epstein,” Garcia said in February. “He said he had no interactions with Epstein after 2005, yet we now know they were in business together. Lutnick must resign or be fired.”
Former Attorney General Pam Bondi is also expected to appear before the committee for questioning on the Epstein investigation in the coming weeks. Bondi was removed as attorney general in early April after Trump grew frustrated with the pace of criminal prosecutions against Democrats who he said had engaged in “lawfare” against him. She also faced separate scrutiny over how the Justice Department handled the Epstein case during her tenure.
