Howard Lutnick to answer questions from US House over Jeffrey Epstein ties

[Unredacted]

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/202 ... n-congress

The US commerce secretary, Howard Lutnick, will appear before the House oversight and reform committee on Wednesday to answer questions over his past ties to Jeffrey Epstein.

Lutnick agreed in March to sit for a transcribed interview with the committee following the justice department’s release of millions of documents related to Epstein, which included documents showing that Lutnick continued correspondence with Epstein after the disgraced financier had been convicted of soliciting prostitution from a minor. The session is part of the committee’s broader investigation into Epstein.

“The Secretary looks forward to addressing any questions on the record when he testifies voluntarily before the Oversight Committee,” a commerce department spokesperson said. “He looks forward to putting to rest the inaccurate and baseless claims in the media designed to distract from his historic work underway at the Commerce Department.”

The interview on Wednesday will take place behind closed doors, with a transcript released at a later date, as the committee has done with the previous transcribed interviews.

In January, documents released by the justice department as part of the tranche of files related to Epstein revealed that Lutnick, who was once Epstein’s neighbor in Manhattan, maintained contact with the disgraced financier after Epstein’s 2008 conviction for soliciting prostitution from a minor. The revelation contradicted a previous claim Lutnick made last year that he and his wife had cut ties with Epstein in 2005.