US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick faced pointed questions from the House Oversight Committee on Wednesday over his past dealings with Jeffrey Epstein, including a family lunch on the disgraced financier's private island in 2012 and an invitation extended to him for a 2015 fundraiser.
The senior Trump cabinet member has long maintained he cut all ties with Epstein following an unsettling encounter at the latter's New York home in 2005. Yet justice department files released earlier this year tell a different story, prompting the closed-door testimony that has put one of the administration's most prominent economic voices under the spotlight.
