Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, a former Manhattan neighbor of Jeffrey Epstein, has agreed to voluntarily testify before the House Oversight Committee as part of its investigation into the convicted sex offender, the panel’s chairman announced Tuesday.
Lutnick has faced growing bipartisan pressure to testify about his ties to Epstein following the Justice Department’s release of a tranche of documents that suggested Lutnick maintained contact with Epstein years after claiming to have distanced himself from him.
“Secretary Lutnick has proactively agreed to appear voluntarily before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform,” Rep. James Comer (R., Ky.), the committee’s chairman, said in a statement. “I commend his demonstrated commitment to transparency and appreciate his willingness to engage with the Committee. I look forward to his testimony.”
Lutnick’s connection to Epstein also has caused controversy at Haverford College, where president Wendy Raymond is considering convening a committee that would review whether the mega donor’s name should remain on the campus library.
Lutnick will soon become the latest participant in a series of high-profile interviews conducted by the committee for its Epstein probe — the most recent of which included former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. They took part in a pair of contentious, closed-door depositions in New York last week.
The Department of Commerce did not immediately respond to a request for comment about Lutnick’s interview.
“I look forward to appearing before the committee. I have done nothing wrong and I want to set the record straight,” Lutnick said in a statement to Axios, which first reported his planned appearance.
Testifying before Congress last month, the commerce secretary said he recalled meeting with Epstein three times over the course of 14 years. Lutnick also said he and his family had lunch with Epstein on his Caribbean island in 2012 — after previously claiming that he and his wife had distanced themselves from Epstein around 2005.
The exchanges made public by the Justice Department show that Lutnick, a former chairman of the financial services firm Cantor Fitzgerald, and Epstein kept communicating years after Epstein pleaded guilty to two charges of soliciting prostitution, including one involving a minor, and was sentenced to 13 months in jail.
Their last known exchange in the Justice Department documents came in 2018, when Lutnick reached out to Epstein about the Frick Collection, a museum near their neighboring homes, planning construction.
“Are you aware as to them building to block our park views,” Lutnick wrote in an email that his assistant forwarded to Epstein, “What should we do about it? Time is of the essence.” Lutnick also urged Epstein to involve a lawyer, to which Epstein replied, “Will do.”
The following year, Epstein was arrested on federal sex trafficking charges and later died in federal custody. His death was ruled a suicide.
Some lawmakers, including Rep. Robert Garcia of California — the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee — as well as Rep. Thomas Massie (R., Ky.), have called for Lutnick to step down over his connection to Epstein. But President Donald Trump last week signaled he remained confident in Lutnick.
“Howard would go in and do whatever he has to say,” Trump told reporters on Friday about possible Epstein testimony. “He’s a very innocent guy. He’s doing a good job.”
The Oversight Committee has already scheduled depositions for Darren Indyke and Richard Kahn, the co-executors of Epstein’s estate, this month. And Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R., Fla.) has said she plans to ask the committee to bring in “some of the [Epstein] co-conspirators that were given lesser sentences that were known to have trafficked young girls.”
Garcia told the Washington Post that if Democrats retake the House in November and become the majority next year, they will “absolutely” pursue an interview with Trump regarding Epstein. “There’s a long list of subpoenas that we will be engaged in,” Garcia added.