
WASHINGTON - Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, in an interview with House lawmakers, backed away from a previous claim that convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein had blackmailed people.
Lutnick agreed to sit for an interview with the House Oversight Committee last week after the release of case files on Epstein contradicted his claim on a podcast last year that he had been determined to "never be in a room again" with Epstein after a 2005 tour of Epstein's home that disturbed Lutnick and his wife.