Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick arrives for a deposition as part of the House Oversight Committee’s investigation of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, May 6, 2026. (AP Photo\/J. Scott Applewhite)<\/small><\/p>\n
2026-05-13T23:09:03Z<\/p>\n
WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick,<\/a><\/span> in an interview with House lawmakers,<\/a><\/span> backed away from a previous claim that convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein had blackmailed people.<\/p>\n Lutnick agreed to sit for an interview with the House Oversight Committee last week after the release of case files on Epstein contradicted his claim<\/a><\/span> on a podcast last year that he had been determined to \u201cnever be in a room again\u201d with Epstein after a 2005 tour of Epstein\u2019s home that disturbed Lutnick and his wife. <\/p>\n The House Oversight Committee released the transcript of the interview Wednesday, as well as a transcript of an interview with Tedd Waitt, a former boyfriend of Epstein confidant Ghislaine Maxwell.<\/p>\n Lutnick, who for years was neighbors with Epstein in New York City, had claimed in that podcast interview that Epstein engaged in blackmail. But under scrutiny from lawmakers, Lutnick said he was only \u201cspeculating.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI had no personal information. I was just speculating for a podcast,\u201d Lutnick told lawmakers, adding that his two other personal interactions with Epstein years later were \u201cmeaningless and inconsequential.\u201d<\/p>\n Lutnick is the highest-ranked current administration official, besides President Donald Trump<\/a><\/span>, to be named in the Epstein case files. The Republican president has consistently denied any knowledge of Epstein\u2019s crimes and has said he ended their relationship years ago.<\/p>\n Lutnick repeatedly downplayed his previous interactions with Epstein. He said that after Epstein, who died in a New York jail cell<\/a><\/span> in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges, showed a massage table and made a sexual innuendo during a tour of his townhouse in 2005, Lutnick and his wife decided he would \u201cjust avoid him.\u201d<\/p>\n Yet Lutnick, who was previously the head of brokerage and investment bank Cantor Fitzgerald, had a pair of interactions and exchanged several emails with Epstein over the years. <\/p>\n They also both invested in the same business venture in 2013, according to the Epstein case files. Lutnick told lawmakers that he was unaware that Epstein was also an investor until the case files were released months ago.<\/p>\nHow Lutnick described interactions with Epstein<\/h2>\n