Lutnick Faces House Epstein Inquiry, First Sitting Trump Cabinet Member Testifies

Howard Lutnick’s closed-door appearance before the House Oversight Committee put a sitting Trump Cabinet secretary at the center of the chamber’s Epstein inquiry, a step that could reveal how far the Republican-led probe is prepared to reach into business ties, institutional failures and political relationships around Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell.

The Commerce secretary appeared Wednesday in a voluntary, transcribed interview, making him the first current Trump Cabinet official questioned in the committee’s investigation. House Oversight Chairman James Comer said Lutnick agreed to sit for the panel as part of its broader review of the federal government’s handling of the Epstein-Maxwell case. The setting on Capitol Hill underscored the sensitivity of the session: closed doors, a sworn record and a witness whose portfolio at the Department of Commerce sits far from the criminal case but close to the financial and commercial network investigators are examining.

The committee has already moved beyond a narrow review of Epstein’s crimes. It has subpoenaed records from the Epstein estate and sought suspicious activity reports from the U.S. Treasury Department tied to Epstein and Maxwell. Comer has said those records are meant to help the panel assess possible mismanagement of the federal investigation and to support oversight of enforcement of sex trafficking laws. The committee also met with Epstein survivors in September 2025, part of a push that has kept pressure on lawmakers to show how much the government knew and when.

Lutnick’s role became politically charged because of his shifting account of his relationship with Epstein. He previously said he cut off contact in 2005 after a disturbing visit to Epstein’s home. Later reporting based on Epstein-related records suggested the two men remained in business together as late as 2014, with emails and other documents appearing to contradict Lutnick’s description of the relationship. That gap is expected to be a focus of the committee’s questions, along with any post-2008 contact and the scope of their financial dealings.

The testimony also showed how the Epstein matter has become an internal test for both parties. Some Democrats have called for Lutnick to resign, while Republican Rep. Nancy Mace has said he should at least testify before the Oversight panel. For House investigators, the larger significance is whether Lutnick is an isolated witness or the opening to a wider map of institutional and political connections that still have not been fully aired.