Transcription
Mr. Secretary, keep them out of the way, guys. Out of the way. My relationship, >> why are you in photo with >> So, that right there was Howard Lutnik showing up to his deposition on Capitol Hill. But when he arrived, Lutnik said he was not going to have a deposition taken. He said he was not going to take the oath, nor was he going to appear on videotape. He said that he'll just sit for a transcribed interview. It's not under oath. So when he says, "I don't remember this or that." Or if he lies, there's no mechanism to hold him accountable because he's not lying under penalty of perjury. And he's refusing and has refused to be videotaped because he doesn't want the American people watching what just transpired.
Now, Howard Lutnik, Donald Trump's commerce secretary, coordinated this plan with the MAGA Republicans in the House Oversight Committee led by James Comr. They coordinated it with MAGA Mike Johnson and they coordinated it at the highest level with Donald Trump and with the Department of Justice. Now, what we can gather from all of the members of Congress who took this transcribed interview in the room was that Lutnik was lying over and over again.
When Lutnik was asked why he went to the Epstein island in the first place with his children and brought other children there, Howard Lutnik says, "I don't remember." But he said, "It is both inexplicable and unsettling, but I don't know why I went there. I don't remember why the kids were there. I'm sorry. I don't recall." He went on to continue uh to do lie after lie. He was described as evasive, nervous, sweating profusely, completely dishonest, stuttering throughout the entire thing. And then when he was asked, "Well, you previously told the American people that I never met Epstein after one encounter in 2005. So admit that you lied." And Lutnick says, "No, no, no. When I said I never met Epstein, I didn't rule out that we met Epstein," meaning I brought my children, so thus there was many of us. So I didn't do it alone. So I actually didn't lie because we met Epstein, me and my children.
Look, Lutnik needs to resign. This entire Trump DOJ is involved in a massive cover up of a child sex trafficking ring. And now on May 29th when Pam Bondi sits for her supposed to be a deposition, she's going to do the same damn thing. No video camera, a transcribed interview. Do you remember that Clinton sat for an underwrote deposition and James Comr, the chair of the House Oversight Committee, said, "No way can we do transcribed interviews. Those don't have any impact or force or meaning. The Clintons need to show up. The Clintons need to show up." Well, they did. They testified under oath. And now you're protecting Bondi. You're protecting Lutnik. And you're protecting Donald Trump. It is so utterly despicable. It shouldn't matter whether you're a Democrat or a Republican or an independent. This is a cover up in plain view. They are giving us all the middle finger right now.
So, after whatever just took place with Lutnik where he refused to be on video, and you may be saying, "Well, why the Democrats allow it?" The Democrats don't control the House Oversight Committee, so they can't set the format of it. The Democrats were able to force a subpoena. But once the subpoena issues, James Comr, who chairs the oversight committee, which is more of the cover up sex trafficking ring committee, he chooses the format and he and the Republicans said transcribed interview, no videotape. The Democrats don't get to override that unless and until Democrats take over the House Oversight Committee. That's just sadly the reality.
So this thing ends. And here we hear from Democratic Congress member Submanium. He was in the room and questioning Lutnik and he's here's what he had to say. Let's play it. >> We asked him over and over again, why did you go to the island? He says he doesn't remember. That was inexplicable and and he simply didn't know how to answer the question at that point. >> And here's what Congress member Roana had to say. Let's play it. >> Why uh this is such a cover up. I mean, uh, he refused to say there was any blackmailing, even though he thought that happened in in the past. He refused to say that there was any video recording, even though he said in the past that people Epste was video recording these young girls. He refused to say anything abnormal about Epstein's Island. So, someone obviously got to him from the administration. In fact, he said he talked to people in the administration and that's why he's changed his tune. And the question is not just uh why he's lying. The question is why he's covering up, why he's no longer willing to share what he knows about Epstein's aborant behavior. >> More from Congress member Connor right here. Let's play this clip. >> We know why that interview was not videotaped. Uh if Donald Trump had seen the video transcript, he would have fired Howard Lutnik. Uh it was really embarrassing. He was asked very straightforward questions about whether he regretted misleading the American people. I mean, he said that he would never see uh Epstein again uh in 2005. And everyone knows that he took his wife and kids to see Epstein in 2012. And yet it was just contortions and lies and no acknowledgement that he misled the American public. And if you saw the exchanges that my colleagues had with him, uh you would see uh he made a uh force of the English language. I mean uh he was trying to define I as if saying that what he really meant is that he would not see Epste alone but be totally fine with having his wife and kids uh kids see Epste. It made no sense. And then uh he's raised even more serious concerns about the investigation. He originally had said that uh Epstein engaged in blackmail and uh recorded videotapes. Now he's saying well he was wrong. He was just speculating uh and Epstein actually didn't engage in blackmailing. This raises the question of what the cover up is. Did someone tell him to say that? Uh I've not heard that uh he is that Epstein never engaged in blackmail. Why is Howard Lutney changing his testimony, changing his story? Uh he's lost all credibility. Uh and really it's a a shame that the American people uh don't get to see uh what he did there. Uh total lack of truth and lack of honesty. >> Then the Midas Touch Network caught up with Congresswoman Ansari. Here's what she told us happened. from Arizona's third district. After what we have seen so far in this transcribed interview, I feel very comfortable saying that Howard Lutnik is a pathological liar who is enabling the most egregious cover up in American history. We have now gone through the timeline of events with him in in detail, excruciating detail from when they met in 2005. This is Howard Lut and his wife meeting Jeffrey Epstein. He described it himself in great detail on a podcast last year where he said that they went to his home, they took a tour and allegedly were so uncomfortable after seeing the massage tables in Jeffrey Epste's home that Howard Leutnik went on on this podcast to tell the American people that he himself and and my colleagues referenced the the definitions he tried to uh change of of what he meant there. but he said that he would never socially or professionally be involved or be in a room with Jeffrey Epstein again. Then in 2012, he took his family and his staff to Jeffrey Epstein's island. I focus my questions today on how he could have done that if him and his wife were truly so uncomfortable, especially when in 2008 we know that Jeffrey Epstein was accused and the sweetheart deal took place for soliciting a minor. Howard Lutnik tried to tell us in that room that he essentially didn't know any of that. I asked him, "How did I, as a child at the time, see this all over the media about Jeffrey Epstein and you, an adult who was this person's neighbor who had engaged with him before? How could you possibly not have known?" I mean, the level of the lies that are taking place inside that room without video is unbelievable. And part of this egregious cover up, I recommend that every single American when this interview is released, read the document in full. you will see Howard Lutnik use phrases like um how it's inexplicable and unsettling that he went to the eye. But that's how he defines it himself. It's inexplic inexplicable how this happened. He also tries to define all of their interactions as quote unquote meaningless and inconsequential. I think he's used those terms about 20 times so far and continues to use them. So I will just end by saying that there are real victims here. There are potentially over a thousand women who were abused and raped when they were children. And even at the bare minimum, Howard Lutnik was aware of these things. He knew it. just demonstrates the culture of enabling these crimes and allowing rich and powerful people like Jeffrey Epstein and all of the other disgusting rich and powerful men who committed these crimes to continue because people like Howard Lutnik knew these things were happening because they were all over the news and continue to engage and legitimize somebody like Jeffrey Epstein.
More from Congress member Subermanium uh as he answered our questions with our cameras. We're right outside the room. Let's play it. >> Yeah, I I agree. Howard Lotik should resign. That was absolutely mindboggling what we just heard in the room. He was evasive, nervous, he was dishonest. He would not admit to lying, which he clearly did in the podcast. He said he was never in the room with Jeffrey Epstein ever again after the first time he met him. Yet he Ben admitted that he was in the room with Jeffrey Epstein. I had to ask him whether he and I were in the same room just now because I couldn't understand his meaning of we were in the same room together. And so and then he said that Jeffrey Epstein was a sick man that he would never want to be in the room with him again. Yet he was in the room with him again when he visited his island where Jeffrey Epstein raped women, underage women, and he brought his kids and his friends with him to that island when he met with Jeffrey Epstein. He said he never met with Jeffrey Epstein again socially. Yet he admits that that was a social visit to his island. And so he was clearly being dishonest. He was clearly being evasive. And finally, he doesn't remember why he went to Jeffrey Epstein's island, which is also mindboggling. He somehow remembers going to the island after pictures surfaced of him being at the island, but he does remember why he went to the island and we had the emails. That's why we found out he was at the island. This is absolutely absurd and he should resign. >> Then we spoke with Democratic Congress member Walenshaw. Here's what he said. >> Today, Chairman Comr said that he had seen any evidence of wrongdoing by Secretary Lutnik. And that's actually the problem with the Trump administration. this Republican majority in Congress because lying to the American people is wrongdoing and Howard Lutnik lied to the American people. I hope today that we would have heard some remorse, some contrition from Secretary Lutnik for flatout lying to the American people. Instead, what we've heard thus far is hours of testimony where he's attempting to redefine the meaning of the word I. He claims that when he said, "I would never be in a room again with Jeffrey Epstein," he meant only him and Jeffrey Epstein. Epstein was so gross to him, so disgusting that he wasn't willing to be in a room with him, but he was perfectly okay with his wife and family being in a room with Epstein. He's lying. And today's transcribed interview is part of the ongoing cover up because the American people deserve to see the video of what's taking place in there. They deserve to see the sweat on the secretary's brow as he struggles to answer basic questions about his lies to the American people. So, we're going to continue to listen and ask tough questions, but unfortunately, it appears that Secretary Lenick is not going to take any responsibility to the American people today. Can you and again I want to remind you what went down what two or three weeks ago when Lutnik was testifying under oath before the House committee. This was in connection with the budget. The House members were asking him about his connections with Epstein. But Lutnik said, "I'm not going to answer here. I've made a deal with the House Oversight Committee." Well, now we know what that deal was. That you're not going to be under oath. You're not going to be videotaped. And it's an extension of the coverup. It's despicable.
Play this clip of Congresswoman Dean cross-examining Lutnik. Let's play it. >> With the survivors, I again went to the Department of Justice to review the unredacted Epstein files to seek accountability and justice for the victims, the more than 1,000 victims and survivors. And today, Secretary Lutnik, I have some questions for you about what I saw. Let's start with your relationship with sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein. On October in October, you told the New York Post with colorful narration that the last time you saw Jeffrey Epstein was in 2005 when you took a tour of his house, which happened to be right next door to yours. You claim you and your wife were so grossed out by this disgusting person, you swore you would never go back. But when the Epstein files came out, it turned out that was a lie. You were forced to admit that you had visited Epstein's private island in 20 uh 2012, four years after Epstein plead guilty, soliciting a minor for prostitution and was labeled a sex offender. You brought along your wife, your kids, your nannies to the predator's island. Incredibly poor judgment. But that even wasn't the whole truth. It turns out that 5 days after visiting his island, you and Epstein signed a business deal together as co-investors in a digital advertising company, Adfin. An email showed you t stayed in touch with Epstein about this deal as late as 2018. Secretary Lutnik, why did you lie to the New York Post about your relationship with Jeffrey Epstein? >> Oh, I did hear that. Please don't repeat your gracious offer to speak behind closed doors, not under oath, uh without the ability uh of this committee to question you. The American people wants to know, why did you lie about your relationship with Epstein? >> House Oversight Committee and I have agreed time >> reclaiming my time. I do not accept that answer. We've heard that one. We are our own committee. We have our own reason to test your credibility and veracity. Please answer the question. Why did you lie to the post? >> I have voluntarily agreed to spend the time and talk about it. >> I reclaim the time. Let the recorder reflect. You're dodging the question. The cover up continues. You know what >> she also asked him about his financial ties. Here's what he said. Play this clip. If President Trump has even a shred of concern about accountability for Jeffrey Epstein's enablers, he would fire you, too. Beyond Adfin, what other financial ties do you have to Jeffrey Epstein? >> As I said, I'm going to answer all these >> beyond adfin. What other financial ties? You're the commerce secretary. We have a right to ask this question and get it answered. Again, I'm not going to spend the budget day discussing something I've set aside time to spend on this topic. >> Let me switch topics. >> And then Donald Trump runs around saying Lutnik is a very innocent guy. This is what Trump recently said. Let's play this clip. >> Howard Lut, what's your reaction to that? >> Well, how would go in and do whatever he has to say. He's a very innocent guy. He's doing a good job. really one of Epstein's best friends, Donald Trump, says Lutnik, one of Epste's other close friends. Very good guy. Do you see the Epstein class in action here? Once again, let me repeat, if you're a Republican, if you're a MAGA person and you're into what I'm showing you, if you like what I've just shared with you, I there's no way I can ever reason with you of anything logical. like you are a gross person if you're okay with this cover up that's taking place at a bare minimum. Shouldn't we have these things happen under oath? You're okay with it being hidden. Like you realize you're being played, huh?
Cuz here was Lutnik partying with his kids on Epstein Island. Look at him having the time of his life. He's super happy. He's a happy dude. Here was Lutnik, of course, during that New York Post interview where he goes, "That guy Epstein, he's gross. He's gross. To which Miranda Divine said, "So why do all these people hang out with him?" Lutnik was one of the people who hung out with him, but Lutnik had pretended in his interview he didn't. No, no. He He's the one of the greatest blackmailers of all time. Play it. >> I mean, that's an incredible story that you could pick up that he was a pervert. >> It's gross. That guy's gross. >> Right with my wife. He's gross. The guy's gross. This was not Oh, the deep nuance of Howard Lutner. This guy's gross, >> right? >> So, how come Bill Gates and all these other people could hang around him and not see what you saw? Or did they see it and ignore it or >> No, they participated, >> right? >> That's what his MO was. You know, get a massage, get a massage. And what happened in that massage room, I assume, was on video. This guy was the greatest black mailer ever. Blackmailed people. That's how he had money. So, >> so what happened to those videos? Why is there now such a der of information when you know Donald Trump's people are running the FBI and the DOJ? >> I assume way back when >> Mhm. >> they traded those videos in exchange for him getting that 18month sentence which allowed him to have visits and be out of jail. I mean, he's a serial sex offender. M >> how could he get 18 months and be able to go to his office during the day and have visitors and stuff? Must have been a trade. >> So my assumption not I have no knowledge. >> But my assumption is there was a trade for the videos because there were people on those videos. >> And have you talked to Donald Trump about this and shared your theory? >> No. I mean he knows the story, >> right? >> But like my story that you know I was the one and done with the guy. He knows that story. But that's it.
And then finally, Lutnik said he never had any future interactions with Epstein. But show this photo, guys, right here. This was Epstein's home, 9 East 71st Street, Upper East Side. Here was Lutnik's home, 11 East 71st Street. Their homes were attached. Their town houses were attached to each other. Here's what Letic said. Let's play it. And there's a massage table in the middle of the room >> and candles all around and stuff. So I ask very insightful cutting questions. I say to him, massage table in the middle of your house. How often you have a massage? And he says, "Every day." And then he like gets like weirdly close to me >> and he says, "And the right kind of massage." Now my wife is standing here. So she looks at me and I look at her and we say, "I'm sorry. We have to go." And we left. And in the six or eight steps it takes to get from his house to my house, my wife and I decided that I will never be in the room with that disgusting person ever again. >> So I was never in the room with him socially, for business, or even philanthropy. If that guy was there, I wasn't going cuz he's gross. and and there and then you had Lutnik being asked by Senator Van Holland during a recent hearing about his children being at the island. Play the clip. >> The fact that you believe that you misled the country and the Congress based on your earlier statements suggesting that you cut off all contact when in fact you had not. When you visited the private island, did you see anything inappropriate during that visit? The only thing I saw with my wife and my children and the other couple uh and their children was staff who worked for Mr. Epstein on that island. >> And you realize that, you know, this this visit took place after he had been convicted, right? I mean, you made a a very big point of saying that you sensed that this was a bad person in 2005. And then of course in 2008 he was convicted of soliciting prostitution of a minor. And and yet you went and had this trip and other interactions. Did you have a dinner in Epstein's New York City home in 2011? >> No. >> So the information that suggests that there was a dinner with Woody Allen and Woody Allen's spouse at the Epstein residence. That's that's there's nothing to that. Is that right? >> I actually don't know what you're referring to. There was Look, I I looked through the uh millions of documents for my name just like everybody else. And what I found was there was a document that says that I had a meeting with him on uh in May, I think, uh for an hour for at 5:00. >> Okay. not dinner or otherwise for an hour at five o'clock. >> All right, there's Let me know what you all think, folks. Hit subscribe. Let's get to 7 million subscribers. Thanks for watching. Want to stay plugged in? Become a subscriber to our Substack at midasplus.com. You'll get daily recaps from Ron Philipki, add free episodes of our podcast, and more exclusive content only available at midasplus.com.