Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick dropped $5 million on the main House Republican super PAC just four weeks after lawmakers arranged to interview him about his ties to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein — making him the first Trump cabinet official to make a seven-figure disclosed federal donation since being confirmed.
The April 1 donation went to the Congressional Leadership Fund, the super PAC backing Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) and House Republican incumbents — including those who sit on the very committee scrutinizing Lutnick. The closed-door interview with the House Oversight Committee took place on May 6 and lasted more than four hours.
Lutnick's Epstein entanglement has dogged him since January, when the DOJ released millions of documents tied to the late financier.
His name appeared in more than 250 of those files. The Times found he had traveled to Epstein's private Caribbean island in 2012, years after he claimed to have cut contact with Epstein following a 2005 encounter in which Epstein made suggestive comments about a massage table.
In the closed-door interview, Lutnick downplayed his interactions with Epstein as "virtually nonexistent," telling investigators the three encounters he acknowledged "do not constitute a relationship."
Committee Democrats called the testimony evasive. Victims' attorney James Marsh said the hearing "does not provide any real substance" for identifying alleged perpetrators of Epstein's network.
A Commerce Department spokeswoman said Lutnick "made a political donation in his personal capacity, just as many Cabinet Secretaries from both parties have done in the past."
The super PAC declined to comment.