Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick testified before the Senate Appropriations Committee Tuesday for a review of the Department of Commerce’s budget. However, with the Epstein files dominating the national headlines, the department’s budget was not the only thing senators were concerned about.
Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) pressed Lutnick during their exchange, zeroing in on the glaring contradiction between Lutnick’s opening statement and his past conduct involving Jeffrey Epstein.
In his opening statement, Lutnick sought to distance himself from the disgraced financier, insisting to the committee that he was “disgusted” by his first encounter with Epstein in 2005 and at the time vowed to never have further contact with him.
Lutnick repeatedly insisted he had no meaningful ties to Epstein.
“I did not have any relationship with him,” Lutnick said. “I barely had anything to do with that person.”
However, Van Hollen noted that the record tells an entirely different story.
Secretary Lutnick’s Opening Statement Contradicts The Record
“Secretary Lutnick, I think you understand the root of concern here,” Van Hollen said. “It’s the way you describe very empathetically your first encounter with him in his apartment. You said you were disgusted, would never have any contact with him again.”
Van Hollen then pointed to what he described as a direct contradiction: a 2012 trip in which Lutnick and his family attended a lunch on Epstein’s private island, the infamous location of Epstein’s high-profile sex trafficking operation involving global elites and underage girls. Van Hollen pointed out that this trip to the island came after Epstein’s conviction in 2008 for solicitation of a minor, which further contradicts Lutnick’s claim that he was “disgusted” by Epstein and cut off all contact with him after their first meeting.
The senator also cited an alleged 2011 dinner at Epstein’s New York City home that included filmmaker Woody Allen and his spouse. Lutnick disputed that characterization, saying it was a meeting, not a dinner. However, this distinction does little to address the broader concern that Lutnick continued to associate with Epstein long after claiming he had cut ties.
The exchange between Lutnick and Van Hollen underscored mounting scrutiny over the past associations of high-level officials with Epstein, whose network of wealthy and powerful acquaintances has continued to generate political controversy years after his death. For Van Hollen, the issue was not just the number of contacts, but the inconsistency between Lutnick’s claims and the documented interactions that followed.
“This goes right to the heart of question of credibility based on the secretary’s earlier statements,” Van Hollen stated.
