Mr. Lutnick’s relationship with the late financier and sex offender has drawn attention after the files reveal a closer relationship than previously known.
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Published March 4, 2026
U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick has agreed to testify to lawmakers about his relationship with the late Jeffrey Epstein, the chairman of the commission investigating the late sex offender said.
Mr. Lutnick, who lived next door to Mr. Epstein in New York for more than a decade, “affirmatively agreed” to provide transcripts of the interview to the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, committee chairman James Comer said Tuesday.
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“I applaud his commitment to transparency and appreciate his willingness to engage with the committee, and I look forward to his testimony,” Comer, a Kentucky Republican, told X.
Axios, which first reported the Commerce Secretary’s intention to testify, said Lutnick said he had done nothing wrong and “wanted to set the record straight.”
Mr. Lutnick’s relationship with Mr. Epstein, who died in 2019 while awaiting sex trafficking charges, has come under intense scrutiny as he appears to have lied about the extent of his relationship with the notorious investor.
In a podcast interview last year, Mr. Lutnick said that after an unpleasant encounter in the sex offender’s Manhattan penthouse in 2005, he decided he would “never be in the room” with Mr. Epstein again.
But files released by the Justice Department earlier this year show that Mr. Lutnick met and communicated with Mr. Epstein in the years after the 2005 encounter was reported, and the Commerce Secretary later acknowledged that Mr. Epstein visited the investor’s private island, Little St. James, in 2012.
Comer said Tuesday that he also sent letters to seven people seeking written testimony about their knowledge of Epstein’s crimes, including Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, private equity investor Leon Black and Goldman Sachs’ top lawyer Katherine Ruemmler.
Mr. Gates, Mr. Black and Mr. Lemmler have repeatedly denied knowledge of any wrongdoing related to Mr. Epstein or his abuse of women and girls.
The committee’s request for testimony comes after former US President Bill Clinton and his wife, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, appeared before lawmakers last week to answer questions about their relationship with Epstein.
Bill Clinton told the committee that he had done nothing wrong and that there was “nothing that gave him pause” during his interactions with Epstein.
Hillary Clinton told lawmakers she had no recollection of ever encountering Epstein and “never flew on his plane or visited his island home or office.”
