Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has agreed to testify before the House Oversight Committee about his connection to Jeffrey Epstein, Axios first reported on Tuesday afternoon.
The top Trump administration official will participate in a closed-door interview.
“I look forward to appearing before the committee,” Lutnick told Axios. “I have done nothing wrong and I want to set the record straight.”
A picture of Lutnick hanging out with Epstein on his private island was released as part of the Justice Department’s latest batch of Epstein-related documents. Lutnick had said he cut off contact with Epstein in the mid-2000s, a few years before he was convicted of sex trafficking, but later testified he went to Epstein’s private island with his family in 2012.
“I did have lunch with him, as I was on a boat going across on a family vacation,” Lutnick told the Senate Appropriations Committee in February.
He added that he met Epstein when they were neighbors in New York City, saying he met him two other times that he could recall over a 14 year span.
Lutnick’s decision to testify comes a week after Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) called for Lutnick to answer questions about Epstein.
President Donald Trump shrugged off concerns about Lutnick being tied to Epstein soon after. Trump said he had not spoken to Lutnick about visiting Epstein’s island, but that Lutnick was there “with his wife and children” — and likely did nothing scandalous.
The House Oversight Committee conducted a combined nine hours of interviews with ex-President Bill Clinton and his wife, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, last week. Footage of those often-contentious interviews were released on Monday.
