{"id":13834,"date":"2026-03-04T07:39:53","date_gmt":"2026-03-04T07:39:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/?p=13834"},"modified":"2026-03-04T07:39:53","modified_gmt":"2026-03-04T07:39:53","slug":"us-commerce-secretary-lutnick-to-testify-before-congress-about-epstein-ties-business-and-economy-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/?p=13834","title":{"rendered":"US Commerce Secretary Lutnick to testify before Congress about Epstein ties | Business and Economy News"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"\">\n<p class=\"article__subhead\"><em>Lutnick\u2019s relationship with the late financier and sex offender has come under scrutiny after files revealed closer ties than previously known.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div><button class=\"article-listen-container\" aria-labelledby=\"listen-text listen-duration\" data-testid=\"listen-to-article-button\"><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"article-listen-container__text\" data-testid=\"listen-to-article-text\">Listen to this article<\/span><span aria-hidden=\"true\">\u00a0|\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"article-listen-container__duration\">2 mins<\/span><\/p>\n<p><\/button><button tabindex=\"0\" class=\"tooltip-accessible_trigger\"><svg class=\"icon icon--info icon--main-grey-dark icon--16 listen-to-article-tooltip__icon\" viewbox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.1\" aria-hidden=\"true\" role=\"presentation\"><title>info<\/title><path class=\"icon-main-color\" d=\"M12 0a12 12 0 1 0 0 24 12 12 0 0 0 0-24Zm-.226 3.225a2.039 2.039 0 0 1 2.155 1.924v.193a1.998 1.998 0 0 1-2.155 2.149 2.029 2.029 0 0 1-2.146-2.15 2.039 2.039 0 0 1 1.955-2.122h.193l-.002.006Zm3.227 15.525a.75.75 0 0 1-.752.75H9.75a.75.75 0 0 1-.75-.75v-1.5a.75.75 0 0 1 .752-.75h.748V12h-.75a.75.75 0 0 1-.75-.75v-1.5a.75.75 0 0 1 .752-.751h3a.75.75 0 0 1 .75.752v6.75h.75a.75.75 0 0 1 .75.749L15 18.75Z\"\/><\/svg><\/button><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"byline byline--single-avatar\">\n<div 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1.924v.193a1.998 1.998 0 0 1-2.155 2.149 2.029 2.029 0 0 1-2.146-2.15 2.039 2.039 0 0 1 1.955-2.122h.193l-.002.006Zm3.227 15.525a.75.75 0 0 1-.752.75H9.75a.75.75 0 0 1-.75-.75v-1.5a.75.75 0 0 1 .752-.75h.748V12h-.75a.75.75 0 0 1-.75-.75v-1.5a.75.75 0 0 1 .752-.751h3a.75.75 0 0 1 .75.752v6.75h.75a.75.75 0 0 1 .75.749L15 18.75Z\"\/><\/svg><\/button><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div aria-live=\"polite\" aria-atomic=\"true\">\n<p>US Secretary of Commerce Howard\u00a0Lutnick\u00a0has agreed to\u00a0give testimony to\u00a0lawmakers\u00a0about his\u00a0ties\u00a0to\u00a0Jeffrey Epstein,\u00a0the head of\u00a0a\u00a0committee\u00a0investigating\u00a0the\u00a0late sex offender has said.<\/p>\n<p>Lutnick, who lived next door to Epstein in New York for more than a decade, \u201cproactively agreed\u201d to provide a transcribed interview to the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, panel chair James Comer said on Tuesday.<\/p>\n<section class=\"more-on\">\n<h2 class=\"more-on__heading\">Recommended Stories<!-- --> <\/h2>\n<p><span class=\"screen-reader-text\">list of 4 items<\/span><span class=\"screen-reader-text\">end of list<\/span><\/section>\n<p>\u201cI\u00a0commend\u00a0his demonstrated commitment to transparency and appreciate his willingness to engage with the Committee. I look forward to his testimony,\u201d\u00a0Comer, a\u00a0Kentucky Republican, said on X.<\/p>\n<p>Axios, which first reported the commerce secretary\u2019s intention to testify, quoted Lutnick as saying he had done nothing wrong and he wished to \u201cset the record straight\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Lutnick\u2019s relationship with Epstein, who died in 2019 while awaiting sex trafficking charges, has come under mounting scrutiny after he appeared to misrepresent the extent of his associations with the notorious financier.<\/p>\n<p>In a podcast interview last year, Lutnick said he decided to \u201cnever be in the room\u201d with Epstein again following an uncomfortable encounter at the sex offender\u2019s Manhattan penthouse in 2005.<\/p>\n<p>But files released by the Justice Department earlier this year showed that Lutnick met and communicated with Epstein for years after the reported 2005 encounter, and the commerce secretary later acknowledged that he visited the financier\u2019s private island of Little Saint James in 2012.<\/p>\n<p>Comer said on Tuesday that he had also sent letters to seven individuals seeking written testimony about their knowledge of Epstein\u2019s crimes, including Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates, private equity investor Leon Black, and top Goldman Sachs lawyer Kathryn Ruemmler.<\/p>\n<p>Gates, Black and Ruemmler have repeatedly denied wrongdoing in connection with Epstein, or having knowledge of his abuse of women and girls.<\/p>\n<p>The committee\u2019s requests for testimony come after former US President Bill Clinton and his wife, ex-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, appeared before lawmakers last week to answer questions about their ties to Epstein.<\/p>\n<p>Bill Clinton told the committee he did nothing wrong and \u201csaw nothing that ever gave me pause\u201d while interacting with Epstein.<\/p>\n<p>Hillary Clinton told lawmakers she had no recollection of encountering Epstein and that she never \u201cflew on his plane or visited his island home or offices\u201d.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Lutnick\u2019s relationship with the late financier and sex offender has come under scrutiny after files revealed closer ties than previously known. Listen to this article\u00a0|\u00a02 mins info Published On 4 Mar 20264 Mar 2026 Click here to share on social media share2 Share plus2googleAdd Al Jazeera on Googleinfo US Secretary of Commerce Howard\u00a0Lutnick\u00a0has agreed to\u00a0give [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13835,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13834","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-us-canada-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13834","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13834"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13834\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/13835"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13834"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13834"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13834"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}