‘He’s Covering Up’: Trump Official Who Was Epstein’s Neighbor Sweats, Mumbles Through Questions About Ties to Scandal. Now, He Could be on the Chopping Block
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has spent months trying to put distance between himself and disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, even claiming that one encounter with Epstein was so “gross” it left him determined never to be in the same room with him again.
But that version of events keeps colliding with a paper trail showing continued contact, family visits, business overlap, and social ties long after Epstein pleaded guilty in 2008 to state charges of soliciting prostitution from a minor.
On Wednesday, those contradictions followed Lutnick into a closed-door hearing on Capitol Hill that Democrats say quickly turned into a damaging display of evasions, revised explanations, and memory lapses that were impossible to square with his earlier public comments.
The hearing has now opened a new political problem not only for Lutnick but potentially for President Donald Trump, whose administration has repeatedly defended him even as questions about Epstein continue shadowing several high-profile figures in Trump’s orbit.
Democrats emerged from the testimony accusing Lutnick of misleading the public about the depth of his relationship with Epstein and changing his story on major claims, including his previous assertion that Epstein was “the greatest blackmailer ever.”
Rep. Ro Khanna argued the testimony was so damaging that “If Donald Trump had seen the video transcript, he would’ve fired Howard Lutnick” on the spot. Khanna said Lutnick was sweating and mumbling.
Khanna said the hearing exposed why no public video recording was released.
“Now we know why that interview with Lutnick was not videotaped,” he said. “It was really embarrassing. Everyone knows that he took his wife and kids to see Epstein in 2012, and yet it was just contortions and lies and no acknowledgment that he misled the American public.”
The California Democrat also suggested Lutnick’s testimony shifted after pressure from inside the administration.
“Someone obviously got to Lutnick from the administration. In fact, he said he talked to people in the administration, and that’s why he’s changed his tune. The question is why he’s covering up.”
At the center of the dispute is Lutnick’s reversal on one of his most explosive previous remarks about Epstein. In a podcast interview last year, Lutnick described Epstein as the “greatest blackmailer ever,” a statement that drew renewed scrutiny after the Justice Department later said it found “no credible evidence” that Epstein blackmailed prominent people.
According to Khanna, Lutnick backed away from the claim during Wednesday’s testimony.
“Lutnick had originally said that Epstein had engaged in blackmail and recorded videotapes. Now he’s saying he was wrong and that Epstein didn’t engage in blackmail. Did someone tell him to say that? Why is Lutnick changing his story?”
Observers on social media similarly questioned how someone could suddenly walk back such a serious allegation against Epstein.
“That kind of shift raises obvious questions — changing a key claim like that invites scrutiny and demands a clear, credible explanation.”
Another person wrote: “That’s a hard thing to misunderstand or get wrong. However, I could believe that someone got to Lutnick & convinced him that his memory needed to be adjusted.”
Others focused on the private nature of the testimony itself.
“Asking a criminal not under oath or in public under oath if he committed crimes- do you think he would say yes? These behind doors meetings don’t accomplish anything.”
Another added: “Why was there video of the Clinton’s testimony but not this guy?”
Some reactions were even harsher, accusing Republican leadership of protecting politically connected figures tied to Epstein.
“@howardlutnick is a liar and a scumbag. Why is @JamesComer doing damn near everything he can to protect the people in Epstein’s circle? He’s just another MAGA coward, and should be ashamed.”
Others dismissed the entire spectacle, with one saying, “All smoke and mirrors.”
Another commenter suggested the administration may already be preparing for broader fallout tied to the Epstein files and future investigations.
“Because mass pardons are coming when accountability strikes. The hedge is in. You think they have it figured out? Pam Blondi has.”
The closed-door hearing before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee focused heavily on Lutnick’s long-running relationship with Epstein, despite years of public attempts to minimize his connections. Democrats said Lutnick repeatedly failed to explain why he and his family visited Epstein’s private Caribbean island in 2012, years after Epstein had already pleaded guilty in Florida to soliciting a minor for prostitution.
Rep. Suhas Subramanyam said lawmakers repeatedly pressed Lutnick about the trip.
“We asked him over and over again, ‘Why did you go to the island?’” the Virginia Democrat told reporters. “He says he doesn’t remember, that it’s ‘inexplicable,’ and he simply didn’t know how to answer the question.”
Other Democrats accused Lutnick of twisting language to avoid acknowledging inconsistencies in his earlier statements. Virginia Rep. James Walkinshaw said the testimony sounded like semantic gymnastics rather than direct answers.
“What we heard was hours of testimony where Lutnick was attempting to redefine the meaning of the word ‘I.’ He claims that when he said, ‘I would never be in a room again with Jeffrey Epstein,’ he meant only him and Jeffrey Epstein,” Walkinshaw said. “Epstein was so gross to him that he wasn’t willing to be in a room with him, but he was perfectly OK with his wife and family being in a room with Epstein.”
Walkinshaw added, “He’s lying. The American people deserve to see the sweat on his brow as he struggles to answer basic questions about his lies to the American people.”
Lutnick’s relationship with Epstein stretched well beyond casual neighborly contact. The two men lived next door to each other on Manhattan’s Upper East Side for more than a decade, exchanged emails after Epstein’s 2008 conviction, shared overlapping financial interests, and remained in intermittent contact through at least 2018, according to NBC News.
Records released by the Justice Department this year showed Epstein receiving messages arranging phone calls with Lutnick, invitations to charity events, and discussions involving mutual investments. One email chain documented plans for the Lutnicks and their children to visit Epstein’s Virgin Islands property during the 2012 Christmas season. Another revealed Epstein’s role advising an aide to then-Prince Andrew regarding a possible business arrangement involving Cantor Fitzgerald.
Lutnick has repeatedly denied wrongdoing and has not been accused of criminal conduct tied to Epstein. A Commerce Department spokesperson previously said claims against him were “inaccurate and baseless,” while the White House defended him earlier this year by saying, “President Trump has assembled the best and most transformative Cabinet in modern history.”
Republicans on the committee also pushed back against Democratic attacks. Committee Chairman James Comer said he believed Lutnick “has been very transparent” and argued Democrats were simply repeating the same questions.