Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick Denies Epstein Mask Resemblance in Congressional Interview

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick rejected the suggestion that one of the masks recovered from Jeffrey Epstein's Manhattan home resembled him during a transcribed interview with the House Oversight Committee. The interview, which took place earlier this month, occurred after Lutnick was threatened with a subpoena to compel his testimony about interactions with Epstein, who had been his next-door neighbor in Manhattan for more than a decade.

Photos previously released by the Justice Department show masks of unidentified men displayed on a wall in a room containing a dentist's chair. "The reason that we introduce this is many people online have speculated that one of the masks resembles you, specifically the one on the first page in the middle," Oversight Chief Counsel for Investigations Jack Emmer told the commerce secretary, according to a transcript released Wednesday.

Lutnick responded by saying the idea was ridiculous. "You've got to be kidding me. That is the most ridiculous and absurd thing I've ever heard. What, a bald man? I have hair," he said. " Just before the interview concluded, Lutnick volunteered that he did not grow a beard until after Epstein's death.

"So that mask that you showed me, I never had a beard before that," he noted. He stated that he never had a goatee either.

" He said at least 10 times that he was speculating about Epstein's illegal activities. "He seemed to have a lot of money. That was why I was speculating," Lutnick said in one exchange. He stressed that he witnessed no illegal conduct and was not aware that Epstein had to register as a sex offender after pleading guilty in 2008 to soliciting a minor for prostitution.

Lutnick denied ever being "in the room" with Epstein in a social, business or philanthropic context. He acknowledged two additional brief interactions in the 2010s after an initial 2005 meeting, including one family visit to Epstein's private island, Little St.

James, in the Caribbean in 2012. He described the island visit as brief, saying they sat outside for lunch, found it boring and left without touring the property. Lutnick said he found it unsettling that Epstein's aides located his family while they were sailing in the US Virgin Islands and invited them to the island.

In 2011, he recalled a brief conversation with Epstein in the financier's foyer about scaffolding renovations. Lutnick also recounted one odd comment Epstein made about a massage table in his Manhattan penthouse while Lutnick's wife was present, after which they left.

The transcript shows Lutnick walked back elements of his earlier podcast statements while maintaining he had no direct knowledge of Epstein's illegal activities.