2026-05-06 晚上8:27 UTC / 路透社
作者：诺兰·D·麦卡斯克尔
2026年5月6日 晚上8:27 UTC 更新于3小时前
华盛顿，5月6日 路透社电——据国会委员会成员透露，美国商务部长霍华德·卢特尼克周三在国会委员会的闭门证词中表示，他不记得自己和家人为何会在杰弗里·爱泼斯坦的私人岛上用餐。
卢特尼克曾任Cantor Fitzgerald首席执行官，2012年他曾与这名已定罪的性犯罪者在该岛上共进两小时午餐，这与他此前公开宣称的早在数年前就与爱泼斯坦断绝联系的说法相矛盾。
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在去年的一档播客节目中，卢特尼克称，2005年左右这位金融家邀请卢特尼克和他的妻子参观其联排别墅时，爱泼斯坦就一张按摩台发表了带有性暗示的评论，此后他发誓“绝不会再和爱泼斯坦同处一室”。卢特尼克和爱泼斯坦曾是曼哈顿上东区的隔壁邻居。
“我们一遍遍地问他：‘你为什么要去那个岛？’”弗吉尼亚州民主党众议员苏哈斯·苏布拉马尼亚姆表示，“他说他不记得了，这无法解释，他根本不知道该如何回答这个问题。”
众议院监督与政府改革委员会主席、肯塔基州共和党众议员詹姆斯·科默称，卢特尼克在自愿证词中表现得很坦诚。科默表示，卢特尼克告诉委员会，爱泼斯坦得知他和家人朋友正在美属维尔京群岛度假，便邀请他们所有人共进午餐。
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[1/4]2026年5月6日，美国商务部长霍华德·卢特尼克在华盛顿国会山接受众议院监督与政府改革委员会采访后离开，该委员会正对已故性犯罪者、金融家杰弗里·爱泼斯坦展开持续调查。路透社/乔纳森·恩斯特
“卢特尼克唯一做错的地方，就是在谈及这次和家人登岛的短暂行程时没有完全说实话。他在开场陈述中纠正了这一点，”科默对记者表示，“如果我们发现卢特尼克有任何虚假陈述，向国会撒谎属于重罪，他将被追究责任。”
美国司法部今年1月披露的大量文件中包含邮件，显示卢特尼克显然曾于2012年前往爱泼斯坦的私人岛上共进午餐。邮件还显示，卢特尼克曾邀请爱泼斯坦参加2015年11月他所在金融公司为民主党总统候选人希拉里·克林顿举办的筹款活动。
卢特尼克在2月10日的听证会上告诉议员，他和爱泼斯坦在14年间仅交换过约10封邮件，会面三次。他称，家人会在岛上与爱泼斯坦共进午餐，是因为他们当时正在附近的船上。
“我和他没有任何关系，”卢特尼克当时谈及爱泼斯坦时表示，“我几乎和那个人没有任何交集。”
爱泼斯坦2008年承认州级卖淫指控，其中包括引诱未成年少女。他被判处13个月监禁，并于2019年再次因联邦未成年人性 trafficking 罪名被捕。同年，他在曼哈顿监狱牢房内死亡，官方裁定为自杀。
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Lutnick testifies he can’t recall why his family lunched on Epstein’s island
2026-05-06 8:27 PM UTC / Reuters
By Nolan D. McCaskill
May 6, 2026 8:27 PM UTC Updated 3 hours ago
WASHINGTON, May 6 (Reuters) – U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told members of a congressional committee in private testimony on Wednesday that he couldn’t recall why he and his family had lunch on Jeffrey Epstein’s private island, members said.
Lutnick, the former chief executive of Cantor Fitzgerald, had lunch with the convicted sex offender for two hours on the island in 2012, contradicting a past public statement about cutting ties with Epstein years earlier.
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In a podcast last year, Lutnick said he vowed to “never be in a room” with Epstein after the financier invited Lutnick and his wife around 2005 to tour his townhome where Epstein made a sexually suggestive comment about a massage table he had set up. Lutnick and Epstein were next-door neighbors on Manhattan’s Upper East Side.
“We asked him over and over again, ‘Why did you go to the island?’” said Representative Suhas Subramanyam, a Virginia Democrat. “He says he doesn’t remember, that it’s inexplicable and he simply didn’t know how to answer the question.”
Representative James Comer, the Kentucky Republican who chairs the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, said Lutnick was transparent in his voluntary testimony. Comer said Lutnick told the panel Epstein found out his family and friends were vacationing in the Virgin Islands and invited them all to lunch.
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[1/4]U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick departs following 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, D.C., U.S., May 6, 2026. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst
“The only thing that I’d seen that Lutnick did wrong was [he] wasn’t 100% truthful on the brief visit to the island with his family. He corrected that in his opening statement,” Comer told reporters. “If we find that there were any misstatements by Lutnick, it’s a felony to lie to Congress and he’ll be held accountable.”
A massive batch of files released by the Justice Department in January included emails showing Lutnick had apparently visited Epstein’s private island for lunch in 2012. The emails also showed Lutnick invited Epstein to a November 2015 fundraiser at his financial firm for Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.
Lutnick told lawmakers at a February 10 hearing that he and Epstein had only exchanged about 10 emails and met three times over 14 years. His family had lunch with Epstein on the island, Lutnick said, because they were on a boat nearby.
“I did not have any relationship with him,” Lutnick said of Epstein at the time. “I barely had anything to do with that person.”
Epstein pleaded guilty in 2008 to state prostitution charges, including soliciting an underage girl. He was sentenced to 13 months in jail and arrested again in 2019 on federal charges of sex trafficking of minors. His death that year in a Manhattan jail cell was ruled a suicide.
Reporting by Nolan D. McCaskill. Editing by Michael Learmonth and Sanjeev Miglani
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