Following the release of the latest documents in Epstein‘s case, several U.S. congressmen have asked Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick to resign on the grounds that he had “liked” about his relationship with the notorious wealthy businessman. Lutnick, according to Al Jazeera, told a Senate committee hearing on Tuesday that he “barely knew” Epstein in response to the allegations.
United States Department of Commerce Lutnik
According to CNN, several emails recently released by the U.S. Department of Justice showed that Epstein invited Lutnick and his family to lunch on December 23, 2012, on his private island of Little St. James in the Caribbean, and Lutnick and his family accepted the invitation. This contradicts what Lutnick said last year. Lutnick then said on a podcast that he and Epstein had been neighbors and that around 2005, Epstein had invited him and his wife to his home and made sexual insinuations, and Lutnick vowed “never to be in the same room with Epstein again.”
“If we believe these documents, Lutnick clearly went to that island. He did business with Epstein, and it was many years after Epstein was convicted,” Thomas Messi, a Republican federal congressman pushing for the disclosure of the Epstein case documents, said on CNN. Messi said Lutnick needed to answer a lot of questions. “He should make life easier for President [Trump] and, frankly, he should resign.”
Robert Garcia, a Democrat from the House Oversight Committee, posted on social media that “it is obvious that Minister of Commerce Lutnik is lying about his relationship with Epstein,” “Lutnik must resign or be dismissed, and must answer our questions.” Democrat Federal Senator Adam Schiff also accused Lutnik of “lying” about the closeness of his relationship with Epstein, and said Lutnik “is not qualified to serve as Minister of Commerce and should resign immediately.”
Al Jazeera in Qatar reported that in the face of calls for resignation, Lutnik told a Senate committee hearing on Tuesday that he “almost didn‘t know” Epstein. “I had no relationship with him, I had almost nothing to do with that person,” Lutnik said. At the hearing on Tuesday, when MPs pressed him about his remarks on the podcast last year, Lutnik insisted on minimizing his dealings with Epstein and emphasizing that nothing “unappropriate” had happened during that meeting in 2012. “My wife and I both know that I absolutely did nothing wrong in any way,” Lutnik said.
The White House also supported Lutnick. At a White House press conference on Tuesday, White House press secretary Caroline Levitt defended Lutnick. “Minister Lutnick is still a very important member of President Trump‘s team, and the president fully supports the minister,” she told reporters. Levitt also ignored reports that Neville Maxwell, Epstein‘s former girlfriend, was seeking an amnesty from Trump, saying it was “not a government priority.” A White House spokesperson had responded on September that Lutnick would continue in office. CNN reported that Trump said about the Epstein case documents mentioning Lutnick and others, “I think they‘re okay, otherwise it would be headline news.”
Lutnik is another political and business elite recently under pressure for his involvement with the bankrupt financier. On local time, 10, U.S. Democratic congressman Roe Connor also read out the names of six “rich and powerful men” in the House of Representatives, whose names were hidden from the Epstein case documents previously released by the U.S. Department of Justice. These include Leslie Wexler, former owner of Victoria‘s Secret, a underwear brand, and Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, chief executive of the UAE‘s Dubai World Port Company.
The other four were Salvatore Nuara, Zurab Miklazé, Leonid Leonov, and Nikola Caputo. According to the U.S. Politica website, Connor did not provide evidence that they were involved in the crime.
Epstein was convicted in 2008 for inciting underage prostitution, was arrested again in July 2019 for suspected sex crimes, and died in prison in August 2019, being convicted of “suicide.” However, the widely circulated story is that Epstein died violently because he possessed a “client list” used to blackmail prominent people. Documents released by the Justice Department show that Epstein was associated with numerous celebrities in European and American politics, business, and academia during his lifetime. As the Epstein case continues to ferment, multinational political celebrities are affected. The British government is currently in a political crisis due to Epstein‘s association with Peter Mandelson, the former British ambassador to the United States. In October last year, King Charles III also stripped his brother Andrew of all his titles after growing evidence of his relationship with Epstein. But there are almost no signs that the United States is about to face a similar settlement. Trump had previously called the censorship of the Epstein documents a “fraud” and a “conspiracy” led by the Democratic Party.
“This is undermining the British government, potentially undermining the monarchy, and subverting the elite,” said Democrat Kanner. “What have we done in the United States against people like Epstein? Our commerce secretary is everywhere in these documents.” Republican Macy wrote on social media that Lutnik‘s contradictory remarks raised questions that needed to be addressed.