Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick is scheduled to voluntarily meet with the House Oversight Committee on May 6 to answer questions about his relationship with the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, according to a person familiar with the schedule.
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Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) announced in early March that Mr. Lutnick had “affirmatively agreed to appear voluntarily” before the committee. However, no date has been decided until now.
CNN first reported the date of Lutnick’s interview.
The Commerce Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday night.
Mr. Lutnick, who was Mr. Epstein’s neighbor in New York City, told the New York Post last year that he decided the politically connected financier was “disgusted” and wanted nothing to do with Mr. Epstein’s inappropriate comments when he hosted the Mr. and Mrs. Lutnick at Mr. Epstein’s townhouse in 2005.
“So I was never in the room with him, socially, business-wise, philanthropic-wise. That guy was there, but I didn’t go, because he was disgusting,” Lutnick told the paper.
But files released by the Justice Department show that Mr. Lutnick and his family visited Mr. Epstein’s island in 2012, four years after he pleaded guilty to felony prostitution and pimping of a person under 18, and that in 2015 he appeared to have invited Mr. Epstein to a small fundraiser for Hillary Clinton.
At a Senate hearing earlier this year, Lutnick said he couldn’t remember why he visited the island, but there was nothing “unfavorable.”
Regarding his upcoming interview, he told Axios last month: “I look forward to appearing before the committee. I have done nothing wrong and I want to set the record straight.”
Authorities have not charged Mr. Lutnick with any wrongdoing related to Mr. Epstein.
