Howard Lutnick opened his checkbook just as House investigators came calling. The Commerce secretary and longtime Wall Street executive gave $5 million on April 1 to the Congressional Leadership Fund, the main super PAC boosting House Republicans and Speaker Mike Johnson, weeks before he sat for a closed-door interview about his ties to Jeffrey Epstein. The May 6 appearance before the House Oversight Committee followed the release of records that show Lutnick's name in more than 250 Epstein-related documents and detail a 2012 trip to Epstein's private island, contradicting Lutnick's earlier suggestion that they hadn't been in the same room since 2005, the New York Times reports.
The donation matches Lutnick's largest federal gift—$5 million to a Trump-aligned super PAC in 2024—and marks his first contribution since joining the Cabinet. A Commerce Department spokesperson said Lutnick donated in a personal capacity, as other Cabinet officials have done, though such a large gift from a sitting secretary is rare. Lutnick, who previously supported the same super PAC with $2.7 million, told lawmakers his three encounters with Epstein were "meaningless and inconsequential" and condemned Epstein's behavior. The Oversight Committee declined to comment on the donation's timing. Democrats on the panel complained that Lutnick was not forthcoming in his testimony. The Republican chairman, on the other hand, said Lutnick was "very transparent." PBS has the transcript here.
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