Overview
- The House Oversight Committee will question the commerce secretary in a closed-door, transcript-only deposition Wednesday, a format negotiated with Republican leadership.
- Justice Department documents released in January include emails, photos, and records that show messages and meetings through 2018 and planning for a 2012 island lunch, contradicting his 2025 claim he cut off contact in 2005.
- In February Senate testimony, he acknowledged several meetings with Jeffrey Epstein and said his family had a one-hour lunch on Epstein’s private island in 2012, while denying any wrongdoing.
- Pressure has grown from Democrats, with Rep. James Walkinshaw saying Tuesday he would press Lutnick and accusing him of lying about the island visit.
- The deposition is part of a broader series of interviews with figures named in the files, and the records do not allege new crimes or imply wrongdoing by those mentioned.