‘We have serious questions’: Top Trump official exposed for blatant lie in Epstein files

The top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee is demanding answers after a top Trump official was exposed for blatantly lying about their ties with Jeffrey Epstein, new documents have revealed.

“Trump Commerce Secretary [Howard] Lutnick said he had zero interactions with Epstein after 2005 – looks like they were actually in business together,” wrote Rep. Robert Garcia (D-CA), the leading Democrat investigating Epstein and his ties to powerful figures, in a statement. “We have some serious questions.”

Last October, Lutnick – a finance industry billionaire and longtime supporter of President Donald Trump – told the New York Post that he and his wife had visited Epstein’s New York home in 2005, but severed all ties soon afterward.

Last week, however, the Justice Department’s release of around 3.5 million Epstein files revealed that as late as 2012, Lutnick was making arrangements to visit Epstein’s private island with his wife and children. And on Friday, it was revealed that Lutnick and Epstein “were in business together” as recently as 2014, CBS News reported.

According to emails released by the DOJ, Epstein and Lutnick were involved in discussions and financial dealings tied to a “now-shuttered advertising technology company called Adfin,” CBS News reported, dealings that lasted through at least 2014.

Other emails released by the DOJ reveal that Epstein and Lutnick had maintained contact well past 2005, arranging calls with each other and making plans to have drinks in 2011. In 2017, Epstein wrote that he would donate $50,000 to a United Jewish Appeal Federation New York dinner event honoring Lutnick, and in 2018, Lutnick emailed Epstein directly about matters related to real estate.

A Commerce Department spokesperson lashed out at the media regarding the revelations, telling CBS News that Lutnick has “never been accused of wrongdoing.”

“This is nothing more than a failing attempt by the legacy media to distract from the administration's accomplishments including securing trillions of dollars in investment, delivering historic trade deals and fighting for the American worker,” the spokesperson told CBS News.