Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick reportedly donated millions to a super PAC supporting House Republicans about a month before lawmakers interviewed him about his interactions with the dead sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Lutnick donated $5 million to the Congressional Leadership Fund on April 1, making him the first known member of President Donald Trump’s cabinet to have made a disclosed, seven-figure federal donation after receiving Senate confirmation, The New York Times reports.
Lutnick sat for the interview with the House Oversight Committee on May 6. He agreed to the interview in early March, about a month before he donated to the Congressional Leadership Fund.
“Mr. Lutnick made a political donation in his personal capacity, just as many Cabinet Secretaries from both parties have done in the past,” a Commerce Department spokesperson told The Independent.
The spokesperson provided a list of former Cabinet members said to have made donations while in office, which included officials who served under former presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden, as well as Trump during his first term.
The Independent has requested comment from the Congressional Leadership Fund and the House Oversight Committee.
The commerce secretary has faced heightened scrutiny since the release of the so-called Epstein files, which contained information about his past interactions with the Epstein.
Lutnick has denied any wrongdoing in connection with Epstein. Being mentioned in the Epstein files does not indicate wrongdoing.
Lawmakers on the House Oversight Committee asked Lutnick about his ties to Epstein, who was once his neighbor. They also pressed Lutnick about the time he and his family had lunch on Epstein’s private island, Little St. James, in 2012. Four years prior to that visit, Epstein had pleaded guilty to soliciting a minor for prostitution.
“With respect to visiting, having lunch with my family and another family and the whole crowd going to his island for lunch, I don't remember why we went. But to try to answer your question in more detail, I don't remember him registering as a sex offender. And if my next door neighbor was registered as a sex offender and I knew it, I would remember that,” Lutnick told lawmakers, according to a transcript of the interview.
Later in the interview, when asked when he found out Epstein was a registered sex offender, Lutnick reiterated that he doesn’t remember.
“If I knew, I would've been concerned about him being — living next door, and I wouldn't have gone to the island. So while I can't sit here and say, you know, 20 years ago or however long ago this was, but I can tell you what I remember — I'm just trying to be helpful, because I've done nothing — and we all know I have done absolutely nothing wrong, inappropriate,” Lutnick said.
“You know, I only interacted with this person three times my whole life, all, as you know, meaningless and inconsequential, never with other people, nothing,” he added.
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