Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.) a high member of the Home Oversight Committee, stated Wednesday committee members “want to talk with” President Donald Trump’s Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick regarding damning feedback he made about his former neighbor, Jeffrey Epstein.
Lutnick appeared on New York Publish’s “Pod Pressure One” podcast Wednesday, to recount a “one and finished” interplay with Epstein, who was his neighbor for just a few years, the place he was given a tour of Epstein’s New York Metropolis townhouse and noticed a devoted “therapeutic massage room.”
The secretary stated he wouldn’t socialize with Epstein once more after that interplay and made a bombshell allegation in regards to the disgraced financier.
Lutnick instructed host Miranda Devine he suspected Epstein was blackmailing his high-profile buddies and associates who participated within the abuse of younger ladies with incriminating footage.
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“They get a therapeutic massage, that’s what his M.O. was. ‘Get a therapeutic massage, get a therapeutic massage,’ and what occurred in that therapeutic massage room, I assume, was on video,” Lutnick claimed. “This man was the best blackmailer ever. That’s how he had cash.”
Lutnick theorized that Epstein “traded” the incriminating movies to safe a 2008 plea deal the place he averted federal intercourse trafficking fees and as a substitute obtained an 18-month sentence for soliciting a minor for prostitution.
Garcia referred to as Lutnick’s feedback “unbelievable,” on Wednesday night time’s episode of CNN’s “Erin Burnett OutFront,” including that the oversight committee is occupied with understanding the place the Trump official’s hypothesis got here from.
“We all know there are lots of people [who] have info throughout the administration that could possibly be useful to our investigation,” Garcia stated. “Clearly, there’s some right here and, clearly, we’d like all of the information launched.”
He instructed Burnett he would “100%” help a subpoena for Lutnick.
“We have to have Howard Lutnick in entrance of the committee,” Garcia stated. “It must occur ASAP. The truth that he has info that could possibly be vital to this investigation and that he’s, after all, a part of the Trump administration, vital for us to get this info instantly.”
Lutnick’s hypothesis would probably undermine FBI Director Kash Patel’s declare final month that there was “no credible info” that steered Epstein trafficked his victims to different folks.
Need assistance? Go to RAINN’s National Sexual Assault Online Hotline or the National Sexual Violence Resource Center’s website.
