{"id":209953,"date":"2026-05-06T21:03:56","date_gmt":"2026-05-06T21:03:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/trump-administration-live-updates-howard-lutnick-testifies-on-jeffrey-epstein-nbc-news\/"},"modified":"2026-05-06T21:03:56","modified_gmt":"2026-05-06T21:03:56","slug":"trump-administration-live-updates-howard-lutnick-testifies-on-jeffrey-epstein-nbc-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/trump-administration-live-updates-howard-lutnick-testifies-on-jeffrey-epstein-nbc-news\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump administration live updates: Howard Lutnick testifies on Jeffrey Epstein – NBC News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lutnick has not been accused of any wrongdoing tied to Epstein.
Lutnick’s deposition has wrapped after roughly four hours. Before the interview finished, Oversight Committee Chair James Comer, R-Ky.,\u00a0told reporters that the secretary had been “very transparent.”
He criticized Democrats’ characterization of his testimony, and portrayed Lutnick as being eager to answer the committee’s questions about his encounters with Epstein.
“Right off the bat, he corrected his statement on the time that he came to the island,” Comer said, and had explained that “somehow Epstein found out that his family and friends were going to be vacationing in the Caribbean or around the Virgin Islands, and they, they, he invited them to lunch, and they, they docked there for, he thinks no more than two hours. It was his wife and four other family members, and then six, six, so there were 12 in a group. They didn\u2019t go in the house or anything there.”\u00a0
Democrats, Comer said, \u201crepeated the exact same questions because there\u2019s only so many questions you can ask Howard Lutnick, who lived, had a property next door to Epstein in New York, but talked to him three times over a decade.\u201d\u00a0
“I feel like that Lutnick has been very transparent. He came in voluntarily,” Comer said. “We\u2019ll continue our investigation, and if we find that there were any misstatements by Lutnick, it\u2019s a – it\u2019s a felony to lie to Congress, and he\u2019ll be held accountable. It\u2019s too bad it\u2019s not a felony for a member of Congress to lie to the media, or we would be, we would have a lot of Democrats that would be having to lawyer up right now.”\u00a0
Democrats on the House Oversight Committee ripped Lutnick’s appearance before the panel during a break in the interview, with Rep. Ro Khanna calling it “embarrassing” and saying he “made a farce of the English language.”
“Well, now we know why that interview was not videotaped. If Donald Trump had seen the video transcript, he would have fired Howard Lutnick. It was really embarrassing,” said Khanna, one of the co-authors of the Epstein Files Transparency Act.\u00a0
Rep. James Walkinshaw, D-Va., also complained about the lack of video, and said that the American people \u201cdeserve to see the sweat on the secretary\u2019s brow as he struggles to answer basic questions about his lies to the American people.\u201d\u00a0
Khanna\u00a0said Lutnick offered a tortured explanation for his past failure to mention his 2012 trip to Epstein\u2019s island<\/a>, despite saying in a podcast<\/a> he\u2019d had nothing to do with him after 2005 because he thought he was “gross.” \u00a0
It “was just contortions and lies and no acknowledgement that he misled the American public,” Khanna said. Lutnick “was trying to define ‘I,’ as if saying that, what he really meant is that he would not see Epstein alone, but be totally fine with having his wife and kids, kids see Epstein. It made no sense,” he added.
Rep. Yassamin Ansari of Arizona said Lutnick told the committee he “essentially didn’t know” about the large number of sexual abuse allegations against Epstein at the time.
“I asked him, \u2018How did I, as a child at the time, see this all over the media about Jeffrey Epstein and you, as an adult who was this person\u2019s neighbor, who had engaged with him before, how could you possibly not have known?\u2019” she said.
“I think of all of the depositions that we have done so far, I find Howard Lutnick to be the least credible with the way that he just refuses to acknowledge how misleading his statements were.\u00a0I mean, that, quite frankly, he lied in the podcast, but he refuses to acknowledge that.”
Lutnick recalled three personal encounters during his ongoing testimony to the Oversight panel, including some more details about his 2012 trip<\/a> to his private island, a source familiar with the testimony said.
The encounters with Epstein, who was Lutnick’s next-door neighbor in New York City from 2005 to 2019, included a previously disclosed 2005 tour of his mansion with Lutnick and his wife and the island trip with his family, which was first revealed in Epstein-related files released by the Justice Department and later confirmed by Lutnick in congressional testimony.
Lutnick said he also met with him one additional time to discuss scaffolding in Epstein\u2019s foyer, the source said. It’s unclear when that was.
While Lutnick had previously testified before the Senate that he could not recall <\/a>how the island trip came about, he told the committee he’d been invited while on a trip in the US Virgin Islands with family and friends. Lutnick told the committee he did not know how Epstein\u2019s assistant knew he was in the USVI and found that to be unsettling, the source said, adding that he said he’d had a short lunch with family and friends.
At a Senate hearing this year, Lutnick said there was nothing \u201cuntoward\u201d about the visit.
He said he never saw Epstein with any young women and never witnessed anything inappropriate with young women, the source said. Lutnick has not been accused of any wrongdoing in connection with Epstein.
The FBI searched the office of a prominent Virginia Democratic state lawmaker who helped spearhead the state\u2019s redistricting push.
The FBI confirmed that law enforcement activity took place today at the address of State Senate President Pro Tempore L. Louise Lucas\u2019s office in Portsmouth, Virginia. The search is connected to a long-running public corruption investigation into her that has roots in the Biden era, a source familiar with the matter tells NBC News.
Federal agents also executed a search at a nearby business called \u201cThe Cannabis Outlet\u201d that is co-owned by the lawmaker. The development\u00a0was first reported by Fox News.<\/a>
The FBI\u00a0<\/strong>said in a statement that \u201cthere is no threat to public safety.\u201d
\u201cThis is an ongoing investigation,\u201d the statement continued, adding that no \u201cfurther information is publicly available at this time.\u201d
Read the full story here. <\/em><\/strong><\/a>
Trump complained during remarks at a White House event this afternoon that defense companies are not manufacturing equipment “fast enough.”
“I’ve given a special edict that the defense companies who have the best equipment \u2014\u00a0they’re not making it fast enough, and now they’re all building plants all over the place \u2014\u00a0I said you’re not allowed to buy back stock anymore,” Trump said at an event for military mothers.
The president was referring to an executive order<\/a> he signed in January that blocks defense contractors from paying dividends or buying back stock until “they are able to produce a superior product, on time and on budget.”
“I told some of these people that are making millions and millions of dollars, ‘You got to reduce your salary. I’m going to reduce your salary. You’re going to put it into weapons,'” Trump said today.
Especially in light of the war in Iran, critics have questioned the dwindling U.S. weapons stockpile. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth testified<\/a> at a congressional hearing last week that it could take “months or years” to rebuild the stockpile.
Speaking to reporters on his way into his committee’s questioning of Lutnick on his ties to Jeffrey Epstein, Oversight Committee Chair James Comer, R-Ky., said the panel would ask him about contradictory statements he’s made about their relationship.
“We\u2019re going to ask him all these questions, and we\u2019ll let the American people judge whether the credibility was damaged or not at the end of the day,” Comer said. While Lutnick said in an interview that he stopped having anything to do with<\/a> Epstein in 2005, records released in the Epstein files showed he’d traveled to his island and corresponded with him<\/a> until 2018.
“I haven\u2019t seen wrongdoing in the email correspondence, but he wasn\u2019t 100% truthful with whether he or not he had been on the island, so we\u2019ll see, and we\u2019ll obviously release the transcripts, and everyone can can see for themselves,” Comer said.
Lutnick has denied any wrongdoing and has not been accused of any impropriety tied to Epstein.
Rep. Suhas Subramanyam, D-Va., told reporters “we have a lot of questions about his motives, and some of his words that he said.”
He also complained that Lutnick’s questioning and former Attorney General Pam Bondi’s upcoming appearance before the committee are not being filmed.
“I think it\u2019s outrageous that we\u2019re not putting these on camera. Why not? Why not be transparent with the American people?” he said.
Comer told reporters “we don\u2019t video people that come in voluntarily” and “at the end of the day, the transcript’s the most important thing.”\u00a0\u00a0
Federal prosecutors charged a 45-year-old man from Texas today, two days after he is accused of opening fire at Secret Service officers on the National Mall<\/a>.
Michael Marx of Midland, Texas, was charged with assaulting federal officers with a dangerous weapon, using and discharging a firearm during a crime of violence, and unlawful possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.
\u201cWe will prove\u00a0this defendant\u00a0carried an illegal firearm into the heart of Washington, D.C., opened fire\u00a0at Secret Service officers\u00a0near a crowded intersection, and\u00a0shot\u00a0an innocent bystander who was simply crossing the street\u00a0with his family,\u201d U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro said in a statement.
Prosecutors say a Secret Service agent first observed Marx at an intersection near the Washington Monument, appearing to conceal a firearm. As Secret Service began to track him, Vice President JD Vance’s motorcade left the White House and passed through an intersection nearby.
The complaint says that as Marx fled from officers who pursued him, he drew a firearm from his waistband while running through a crosswalk toward bystanders.
Prosecutors say Marx fired at one of the officers and a civilian standing behind the officer was wounded in the leg. Officers then shot Marx several times.
In the ambulance on the way to the hospital, he\u00a0allegedly\u00a0said to officers,\u00a0\u201cF— the White House\u201d and \u201cKill me, kill me, kill me.\u201d\u00a0
Kevin Hassett, the director of the National Economic Council at the White House, said in an interview on Fox’s “Mornings with Maria” that Americans were spending more money on credit cards, framing it as a positive sign for the economy.
His comments came in response to a question from anchor Maria Bartiromo about his expectation for the state of U.S. jobs for the rest of the year.
“It’s going to be very, very strong,” he said, arguing that Americans were benefiting from the Trump administration’s tax policies.
“The consumer is really, really firing on all cylinders, just like the corporate sector, you’re seeing in the earnings reports, and they’re doing that because they have so much more money in their pockets,” he said.
Hassett said he met with a head of a bank yesterday, and the two reviewed credit card data.
“Just as Secretary Bessent said, credit card spending is through the roof,” he said, also referencing a quote from Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent that Fox played moments earlier. “They’re spending more on gasoline, but they’re spending more on everything else, too.”
Before Bartiromo’s question, Fox had played a clip of Bessent in a separate interview over the weekend touting the Trump administration’s tax policy and arguing that the “consumer is very strong.” Bessent said at the time that the administration was in touch with banks and credit card companies, “and they’re saying that all quintiles of the distribution group is very strong.”
House Oversight Committee Democrats are planning to hold a field hearing in Palm Beach, Florida, on Tuesday on the investigation into Epstein.
The hearing will feature Epstein survivors, Democrats on the panel, expert witnesses and Florida Democratic legislators.
“Palm Beach, Florida is where Jeffrey Epstein\u2019s crimes first came to light, and where prosecutors offered Epstein a sweetheart deal that allowed him to continue his crimes. Palm Beach is also home to Mar-a-lago, President Donald Trump\u2019s primary residence and private club,” the committee said in an advisory for the hearing.
The president, in an interview today with PBS News<\/a>, dismissed concerns when asked if he was worried about the price tag of the White House ballroom renovation project he’s championed this year amid rising gas prices across the country.
\u201cNo, we need it. We need it. No, no, it\u2019s a tiny\u2013 it\u2019s one one-millionth of a percent of what we do. That\u2019s a small deal. And I\u2019m putting up a lot of money myself. So, you know, it\u2019s largely financed by me,” Trump said.
Over the last year, the president has promised that the project will largely be funded by private donors. But yesterday, Republicans in Congress proposed a $1 billion earmark<\/a> in their reconciliation bill for security upgrades related to the construction of the new ballroom.
Trump added: “All that they\u2019re doing is financing some security. And it\u2019s not a billion dollars. It\u2019s just a few, what\u2019s needed for security. It\u2019s a small fraction of that. But no, not at all, because I\u2019m putting up 100, I\u2019m putting up $400 million.\u201d
Republican legislative leaders took their first tangible steps toward redrawing the state’s congressional map after the U.S. Supreme Court’s major voting rights ruling last week.
Newly proposed district lines would carve up the Memphis areas in a way that would unseat the state\u2019s only Democratic congressman, Rep. Steve Cohen, who represents a majority-Black district. Republicans currently represent eight of Tennessee’s nine congressional districts.
As part of the suite of legislation filed today, Republican lawmakers are also seeking to change a law that only allows Tennessee to enact new maps once each decade.
State House Speaker Cameron Sexton and Senate Majority Leader Jack Johnson said they expect both chambers to hold floor votes on the proposal tomorrow.
Lutnick arrived for his voluntary transcribed interview with the House Oversight Committee moments ago. He did not respond to questions as he walked to the room in one of the House office buildings.\u00a0
Former Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., waded into the Michigan Democratic Senate primary with an endorsement for Rep. Haley Stevens.
“Haley has the track record and the Michigan grit to lower costs and get things done for Michigan families,” Stabenow said in a YouTube video posted by Stevens’ campaign. “And equally important at this very critical time, I know she can beat Mike Rogers in the general election.”
“The stakes have never been higher, and Haley Stevens is the right person at the right time for Michigan,” she continued.
This is Stabenow’s first endorsement in a Senate primary, Stevens’ team said.
Stevens is one of three prominent primary candidates. She’s facing off against state Sen. Mallory McMorrow and former Wayne County health director Abdul El-Sayed.
Trump said in a Truth Social post that if “Iran agrees to give what has been agreed to,” the war “will be at an end” and the Strait of Hormuz would reopen.
“Assuming Iran agrees to give what has been agreed to, which is, perhaps, a big assumption, the already legendary Epic Fury will be at an end, and the highly effective Blockade will allow the Hormuz Strait to be OPEN TO ALL, including Iran,” he said in the post.
“If they don\u2019t agree, the bombing starts, and it will be, sadly, at a much higher level and intensity than it was before,” Trump said.
It is unclear what he was referring to when he mentioned “what has been agreed to.”
Trump again defended the White House ballroom project and its price tag in a post to Truth Social.<\/a>
He said that the cost of the ballroom had doubled to about $400 million because “after deep rooted studies, it is approximately twice the size, and a far higher quality, than the original proposal, which would not have been adequate to handle the necessary events, meetings, and even future Inaugurations.”
He did not mention the $1 billion proposal<\/a> for security enhancements related to the East Wing Modernization Project, which includes the White House ballroom. Republicans are proposing that an immigration and Border Patrol funding bill include $1 billion for “security adjustments and upgrades” related to the project, “including above-ground and below-ground security features.”
Instead, Trump claimed that the ballroom is “coming in ahead of schedule, and under budget!”
Trump had previously said multiple times that taxpayer dollars would not be used for the project.
Over the years, the households of New York financier\u00a0Jeffrey Epstein<\/a>\u00a0and billionaire businessman\u00a0Howard Lutnick<\/a>, now the Commerce Department secretary, overlapped in seemingly conventional ways, like the need for a good painter. Another time, Epstein received the resume for Lutnick\u2019s nanny.
They were, after all, next-door neighbors for more than a decade in an elite Upper East Side enclave of Manhattan.
But their lives also intersected in far more influential or personal ways, such as when in 2012 Lutnick, his wife and their four young children sailed on a yacht to have lunch with Epstein on his\u00a0private Caribbean island<\/a>. Or seven months later, when an aide to\u00a0then-Prince Andrew<\/a>\u00a0wanted Epstein\u2019s opinion about Lutnick, then the CEO of the Wall Street brokerage and investment bank Cantor Fitzgerald.
\u201cWhat is your view on Howard Lutnick? Just met him with PA,\u201d wrote the aide, referring to Andrew, who was angling to do business with Cantor Fitzgerald.
Read the full story here.<\/em><\/strong><\/a>
NBC News<\/p>\n

source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Lutnick has not been accused of any wrongdoing tied to Epstein.Lutnick’s deposition has wrapped after roughly four hours. Before the interview finished, Oversight Committee Chair James Comer, R-Ky.,\u00a0told reporters that the secretary had been “very transparent.”He criticized Democrats’ characterization of his testimony, and portrayed Lutnick as being eager to answer the committee’s questions about his […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":209954,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-209953","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-us","8":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209953","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=209953"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209953\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/209954"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=209953"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=209953"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=209953"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}