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The Epstein Chronicles
Howard Lutnick And The Transcript From His Epstein Related Congressional Hearing (Part 5) (5/15/26)
00:13:49
The transcripts from Howard Lutnick’s closed-door appearance before Congress painted a picture of a witness trying to minimize both the depth and duration of his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein while lawmakers confronted him with records suggesting...
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Congressional Investigator
What's up everyone, and welcome to another episode of the Epstein Chronicles. In this episode, we're getting right back to the Howard Lutnick transcript from his meeting with Congress. Redacted all right, we can go back on the record. Good afternoon, Secretary Lutnick. My name is redacted. I'll be conducting most of the questioning for the minority today. Before we begin questioning, I'll like to note for the record that this transcribed interview is not being videotaped. The majority has decided that the American people don't deserve to watch the testimony that you will provide today. They've decided instead that the American people can find and read the transcript of your testimony if it's released at some date in the future. Today's transcribed interview, originally announced on March 3, appears designed to preempt a motion to subpoena Secretary Lutnick's testimony by Congresswoman Nancy Mace. But that does not justify keeping these proceedings off of camera. Committee Republicans have claimed that the investigations being conducted in the interest of transparency for the public and for the survivors of Jeffrey Epstein's crimes. To that end, the committee has videotaped multiple prominent witnesses who have appeared for testimony in the Epstein investigation, and the majority has released those videos. Show Shortly after the testimony was complete, the committee was videoed and released the testimony of Ghislaine Maxwell, Darren Indyke, Richard Kahn and Les Wexner. Oversight Republicans videotaped the testimony of President Bill Clinton and former Secretary Hillary Clinton, and those videos were released to the public three days after the conclusion of their depositions. The American people and the survivors of Epstein's crimes deserve the same of today's testimony. The fact that Secretary Lutnick is present for a transcribed interview rather than a deposition does not change our obligation to transparency. Earlier this Congress Oversight Republicans investigated the now debunked theory that the previous administration used an auto pen to take action without President Biden's knowledge. As part of that investigation, Oversight Republicans and interviewed 14 former Democratic White House officials. The overwhelming majority. Eleven of the 14 were conducted as transcribed interviews. Yet Every single interview, including the transcribed interviews, was videotaped, and every single video was released to the public committee. Republicans have set one standard for officials in a Democratic administration and a separate and less transparent standard for officials in the Republican administration. That is a political distinction, not a principled one. To be clear, the minority welcomes Secretary Lutnick's appearance and testimony. But we believe the American people should be able to watch today's interview and reach their own conclusions about today's testimony. And with that, I will move on to substantive questions. Good afternoon, Secretary Lutnick. As I said, my name is is redacted. And as you know, today's conversation is going to focus on your relationship with Jeffrey Epstein. I would like to start with the interview that you gave to the New York Post in October of last year. I know you discussed it a little bit in the previous round. Some of these questions might be repetitive to some degree. I'll try to minimize that to the extent possible, but there's going to be some overlap. In that interview last year, you describe your relationship with Jeffrey Epstein in detail. Substantial parts of that interview have since been called into question. So we will go over the interview one piece at a time and establish which parts are accurate. So I'll introduce as Minority Exhibit A a written transcript of the portion of the interview that related to Mr. Epstein. I'll give you a moment to look it over, if you'd like to. Secretary Lutnick, Can I have a copy of that for my lawyer? Redacted. Yeah, There were. I think there were three in there. Redacted. Yeah. And they'll always hand you three or four of the council to look at. Mr. Mehran, who prepared the transcript? It was prepared by us. We can confirm to you the accuracy of it if you have some specific reason to believe that part of it's not accurate. Of course, we're happy to discuss that. Mehran. The first line says I would be remised. Is that what was said Redacted? Yeah, that was our best interpretation. I think you could reasonably interpret it as likely being remiss. Question. We're going to go over it one by one as well, Lutnick. That's all right. I'm just going to read it quickly. Question. Of course. Answer. Okay, Question. I'm going to break it up in pieces. The only thing I will do is skip the parts where the interviewer interrupted you with the words like right or interesting. Just starting at the outset, you were asked how well you knew Jeffrey Epstein, and you started by saying all Right. So we are in number 11 and he lives in number nine. So is it correct that you did and maybe still do, I'm not sure, live at 11 East 71st street in New York City? Yeah, I have a townhouse at 11 East 71st street and is that what you are referring to here? You said number 11? Answer yeah. Question and as far as you know, is it correct that Mr. Epstein lived at 9 East 71st Street? Yeah, that was his residence. Question and is that what you were referring to when you said number nine? Answer yeah. Is it correct that those two homes are adjacent to each other? Yes. They share a wall. Yes. And then you said, so we renovate, we buy our house, and our house is pigeons and mice. Okay, that's it. It was derelict. Right. So we build, we rebuild our house, we move in 2005. And I'll stop there. So I heard you say in a previous round you bought your home, I think, in 1997. Is that correct? That's correct. And did you know at the time you purchased the home that you the home had been previously owned by both Jeffrey and and Les Wexner? Answer I don't know. I knew. I bought it from Charles de Gunsberg, so that I remember. I don't know if I knew anything else. Question Is it that you were not sure whether that you knew at the time that the home had previously owned by Jeffrey Epstein and Les Wexner? Answer When I bought the house, I didn't know. I don't recall knowing. Question you don't recall whether or not you knew at the time, Is that right? Answer Right. Question okay, is it possible that you knew? Is it possible that you did not know? Am I interpreting that correctly? Answer no, I don't recall knowing. I recall what I did know was I bought the house from Charles de Gunsberg, that I know. I don't know if I knew who owned it previously. I can't say as I sit here today from whatever almost 30 years ago, what I knew or didn't know, but I certainly didn't know when I bought it. Question I'm sorry, there is just a little contradiction between those two parts. You're not sure today whether or not you know at the time that the home was owned by Jeffrey Epstein. Is that fair? Answer no. I bought my house from Charles de Gunsberg and I do not recall knowing when I bought the house who owned it previously. Question so sitting here today, you cannot be certain as to whether you know or not or knew at the time who the previous owners were. Is that what I hear you saying? Answer. Well, I'm trying to be clear. I remember clearly I bought the house from Charles de Gunsberg. He was the owner of the house. I can't remember as I sit here today, almost 30 years later, whether I ever knew subsequently that I learned who owned the house previously. I just don't remember as I sit here. Question. But the narrow question is just at the time you bought the home, did you know whether the home was previously owned by Jeffrey Epstein? And I think. I think you're saying you're just not sure. Either way, it was a long time ago. I don't think so. I'm sorry. No, I don't think so. Is unclear for us. For me, no. You don't think you knew or you're just not sure whether you knew or not? I knew I bought the house from Charles de Gunsberg. That I knew. I'm crystal clear on that part. No doubt about it. The narrow question is just at the time of purchase and did you know that the home had previously been owned by Jeffrey Epstein?
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Congressional Investigator
Answer. Before Charles de Gunsberg owned it, I don't remember whether I ever learned that at the time. Meaning at the time I purchased it, I didn't learn that. I don't know. I don't recall. I don't know. Question. You don't recall whether or not you knew at the time you purchased it? Right. And answer, When I agreed to buy the house, I surely didn't know. How is that. Is that helpful? Question? Well, it is, but it's not quite the same thing as the earlier statement. I'm not suggesting that you did or did not know. It's just I think you said, heard you say it was 30 years ago. I don't recall whether or not I knew, but there have been a few statements that suggest, no, I did not know that it was previously owned by Epstein. So I just want to pin that down and which one of those it is. Answer. I don't know. And I don't think I ever knew that Jeffrey Epstein owned the house that I bought. Is that helpful? Question? Yeah. Is that New information for you here today. Answer that. What? Question. That Jeffrey Epstein previously owned your house? Answer yes. Question okay. Answer I don't know that to be true. Question has it ever been suggested to you or have you ever heard that Epstein previously owned your home? Answer I don't think that's true. So I guess as I sit here today, I don't think that's true. Question I got that, but that's not quite the question I asked. Has it ever been suggested to you or have you ever heard somebody say that Epstein previously owned your home? Answer I can't recall as I sit here today. Question Is it correct that you did some kind of large scale renovation project on the home? In my home? Yes, of course. And is it correct, I think I heard you say in the previous round that you moved in in 2005. Yeah. Okay, so the next part is, okay, Jeffrey Epstein's arrested in like, 08, I think, or something like that. So knock on the door, his assistant on like A Saturday says, Mr. Epstein's your neighbor and he'd like to invite you over for some coffee. So I can come over. The first part of that so, which is that Mr. Epstein was arrested in 06, but he did not plead guilty to solicitation of a minor in 2008. A question for you is, and I think you described it in some detail previously, is it correct that Mr. Epstein's assistant did knock on your door on a Saturday morning because Mr. Epstein wanted to invite you over for coffee? Answer. Say that again. Question Is it correct that as far as you can recall, Mr. Epstein's assistant knocked on your door, to the best of your recollection, on a Saturday morning because Epstein wanted to invite you over for coffee? Answer, I don't know if it was Saturday or not, but I do recall that someone who worked for him knocked on our door and invited us for coffee. Question Was it framed as Mr. Epstein would like to invite you over for coffee? Answer. I wasn't. The person didn't tell me. They told me someone who worked for me. It was an assistant, someone who worked for Epstein, knocked on the door and spoke to someone who worked for me and said, your neighbor would like to invite you over for coffee. But it's not a conversation I participated in. So I'm trying to just give you the context. I understand you are not directly a party to that conversation. I was not. The next part is, so my wife and I go next door. You know, we walk the seven steps right to the next door, next house for coffee. We share A wall. Right. So it's New York City. So he invites us in, we have coffee and this. And he says, do you want a tour? We said, great, I'll stop there. So is it correct that you and your wife did go over to Epstein's house that day? I don't know if it was that day. It might have been a later date. Correct. Is it correct that Mr. Epstein did offer you a tour? Yeah. Question and is it correct that you and your wife did agree to that tour? Answer. Yeah. Question. Prior to this interaction, did you have any knowledge of who Jeffrey Epstein was? Answer. Not that I can think of now. No. Question. I think in the interview you then said that he, meaning Epstein, has got a really big house. I think we all at this point understand that that is an accurate statement. And then you were asked whether you visited every room of Epstein's house and you said, he's got. Well, I'll tell you. So his house is like super big, really wide. And so he gives me a tour of the living room, big living room. And then across from it, double doors. I assume it's a dining room. And he opens the doors and there's a massage table in the middle of the room and candles all around and stuff. And I'll stop there. So is it correct that he did give you a tour and that you recall the tour as you described it here? Yes. We were in the living room for coffee and my recollection is we went across the hall to the next room, which he opened the door. I assumed it was a dining room. And that's the massage table as I described there. Is the part about the candles accurate to your recollection? Yes. Were the candles lit? I don't recall. All right, folks, we're gonna wrap up right here. And in the next episode dealing with the topic, we're gonna pick up where we left off. All the information that goes with this episode can be found in the description box.
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