2026年5月6日 美国东部时间12:33 / 美国有线电视新闻网（CNN）
作者：安妮·格雷尔
美国商务部长霍华德·卢特尼克于5月6日在华盛顿特区国会山接受众议院监督与政府改革委员会采访，作为该委员会对已故性犯罪者、金融家杰弗里·爱泼斯坦持续调查的一部分。
美国商务部长霍华德·卢特尼克于5月6日在华盛顿特区国会山接受众议院监督委员会采访，作为其杰弗里·爱泼斯坦调查的一部分。
凯文·拉马克/路透社
在曝光其与已故定罪性犯罪者的接触时间远超其最初声称的时长后，商务部长霍华德·卢特尼克将于周三面对国会调查者就其与爱泼斯坦的关联接受质询。
卢特尼克是特朗普政府中除总统本人外，最突出地被列入爱泼斯坦相关文件的高级官员，而他此次闭门作证极为罕见地成为现任内阁官员在国会调查中作证的案例。这凸显出尽管特朗普总统多次试图摆脱这一风波，但爱泼斯坦丑闻仍笼罩在唐纳德·特朗普总统及其政府之上。
预计委员会将就卢特尼克与爱泼斯坦的多次接触向其提问，其中包括2012年他携妻子、保姆和子女前往这位金融家声名狼藉的加勒比海岛的行程。
尽管外界要求卢特尼克辞职的呼声不断，但白宫迄今仍对他表示信任。不过特朗普政府的麻烦不会随着卢特尼克的作证而结束。共和党主导的委员会预计将于本月晚些时候就前司法部长帕姆·邦迪在监督爱泼斯坦相关文件发布过程中所扮演的角色对其进行质询，这一过程一直深陷争议。
卢特尼克周三在国会山未回答记者的提问。
众议院监督委员会主席詹姆斯·科默在采访前对记者表示，他计划询问卢特尼克为何其与爱泼斯坦的互动时长远超其最初的说法。尽管科默承认卢特尼克并未坦诚说明其与爱泼斯坦接触的程度，但这位共和党主席表示，评判权在于美国民众。
“我们会向他提出所有这些问题，然后让美国民众判断其公信力是否受损，”这位肯塔基州共和党人在回答CNN记者提问时说道，“归根结底，我在电子邮件往来中未发现不当行为，但他在是否曾登上该岛的问题上并非完全属实。我们拭目以待。”
2025年10月，卢特尼克在接受《纽约邮报》播客采访时表示，2005年这位金融家在带他们参观宅邸时展示了一张按摩床并发表了暗示性言论，此后他和妻子便决定断绝与爱泼斯坦的联系。但爱泼斯坦的相关文件显示，这两位在纽约市作为邻居生活的男子之间的关系持续了更长时间。
从2011年的电子邮件往来、2012年对爱泼斯坦海岛的访问、2013年对同一商业项目的投资，直到2018年仍就邻里问题通信，卢特尼克与爱泼斯坦在卢特尼克声称断绝联系后仍保持了多年联系。
除了澄清自己与爱泼斯坦的相关记录外，科默表示，鉴于卢特尼克曾到访爱泼斯坦的海岛，他可为共和党主导的委员会提供有价值的证词。
“我们接触过的承认登上过该岛的人并不多，”科默对记者说道。
今年2月在另一个参议院委员会作证时，卢特尼克证实2012年他和家人曾在爱泼斯坦的加勒比海岛共进午餐，但坚称两人并无交情。
“我确实和他共进了午餐，当时我正带着家人乘船度假。我的妻子和四个孩子以及保姆都和我在一起，”卢特尼克当时对参议院委员会表示，“我们在岛上吃了午餐，这是事实，时长约一小时，之后我们带着所有孩子、保姆和妻子离开了……我不记得我们为什么这么做。”
但这位商务部长否认他与爱泼斯坦有更深的交情。
“在这数以百万计的文件中，可能只有10封电子邮件能证明我在14年的时间里与他有过联系，”卢特尼克对参议员们说道，“我与他没有任何关系。我几乎没和这个人打过交道。”
两名知情人士告诉CNN，卢特尼克是自愿接受该委员会的闭门采访。虽然会生成采访笔录，但采访不会被录像。科默周三表示，该委员会有不录制自愿作证证人的先例。
CNN的杰里米·赫布、亚当·坎ryn和马特·伊根对本文亦有贡献。
GOP chairman says Lutnick ‘wasn’t 100% truthful’ about Epstein ties as commerce secretary faces congressional investigators
2026-05-06 12:33 PM ET / CNN
By Annie Grayer
US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick arrives for an interview with the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee as part of the panel’s ongoing probe of late sex offender and financier Jeffrey Epstein, on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, on May 6.
US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick arrives for an interview with the House Oversight Committee as part of its Jeffrey Epstein probe, on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, May 6.
Kevin Lamarque/Reuters
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick is facing questions from congressional investigators Wednesday about his ties to Jeffrey Epstein after revelations that his contact with the late convicted sex offender extended years beyond what he initially claimed.
Lutnick is the highest-ranking Trump administration official prominently named in the Epstein files — outside of the president himself — and his appearance behind closed doors marks an extremely rare occurrence of a sitting Cabinet official testifying in a congressional probe. It underscores that the Epstein scandal still hangs over President Donald Trump and his administration, despite the president’s repeated efforts to move on from the saga.
The secretary is expected to face questions from the committee related to his multiple interactions with Epstein, including a 2012 visit to the financier’s infamous Caribbean island with his wife, nannies and children.
While Lutnick has faced calls for his resignation, the White House has so far expressed confidence in him. But the headache for the Trump administration won’t end with Lutnick’s appearance. The Republican-led panel is expected to question former Attorney General Pam Bondi later this month about her role in overseeing the release of the Epstein files, which has been mired in controversy.
Lutnick did not answer questions from reporters on Capitol Hill Wednesday.
House Oversight Chair James Comer told reporters ahead of the interview that he planned to ask Lutnick why his interactions with Epstein spanned years beyond his initial claims. Although Comer conceded that Lutnick was not forthcoming about the extent of his interactions with Epstein, the Republican chairman said judgment is up to the American people.
“We’re going to ask him all of these questions, and we’ll let the American people judge whether the credibility was damaged or not,” the Kentucky Republican said in a response to a question from CNN. “At the end of the day, I haven’t seen wrongdoing in the email correspondence, but he wasn’t 100% truthful with whether or not he had been on the island. So we’ll see.”
In October 2025, Lutnick told the New York Post in a podcast interview that he and his wife decided to cut off contact with Epstein in 2005 after the financier showed off a massage table and made suggestive comments while giving them a tour of his home. But the Epstein files revealed that the relationship between the two men, who lived as neighbors in New York City, went on much longer.
From email correspondence in 2011, a visit to Epstein’s island in 2012, investing in the same business venture in 2013, and corresponding about a neighborhood issue as late as 2018, Lutnick and Epstein kept in contact years after Lutnick claimed to have cut ties.
Beyond clarifying his own record with Epstein, Comer said Lutnick has useful testimony for the Republican-led panel given his visit to Epstein’s island.
“We haven’t talked to too many people that have admitted they’ve been on the island,” Comer told reporters.
Testifying in front of a different Senate committee in February, Lutnick confirmed that he and his family had lunch with Epstein on his Caribbean island in 2012 but insisted that the two did not have a relationship.
“I did have lunch with him, as I was on a boat going across on a family vacation. My wife was with me, as were my four children and nannies,” Lutnick told the Senate committee at the time. “We had lunch on the island, that is true, for an hour, and we left with all of my children with my nannies and my wife. … I don’t recall why we did it.”
But the Commerce Secretary denied that he and Epstein had deeper ties.
“Of these millions and millions of documents, there may be 10 emails connecting me with him… over a 14 year period,” Lutnick told senators. “I did not have any relationship with him. I barely had anything to do with that person.”
Lutnick is appearing voluntarily for the closed-door interview with the panel. While a transcript will be produced, the interview will not be videotaped, two sources familiar with the matter told CNN. Comer said Wednesday the panel has a precedent for not videotaping witnesses who testify voluntarily.
CNN’s Jeremy Herb, Adam Cancryn and Matt Egan contributed to this report.
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