WASHINGTON (AP) — Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, in an interview with House lawmakers, backed away from a previous claim that convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein had blackmailed people.
Lutnick agreed to sit for an interview with the House Oversight Committee last week after the release of case files on Epstein contradicted his claim on a podcast last year that he had been determined to “never be in a room again” with Epstein after a 2005 tour of Epstein’s home that disturbed Lutnick and his wife.
The House Oversight Committee released the transcript of the interview Wednesday, as well as a transcript of an interview with Tedd Waitt, a former boyfriend of Epstein confidant Ghislaine Maxwell.
Lutnick, who for years was neighbors with Epstein in New York City, had claimed in that podcast interview that Epstein engaged in blackmail. But under scrutiny from lawmakers, Lutnick said he was only “speculating.”
“I had no personal information. I was just speculating for a podcast,” Lutnick told lawmakers, adding that his two other personal interactions with Epstein years later were “meaningless and inconsequential.”
Lutnick is the highest-ranked current administration official, besides President Donald Trump, to be named in the Epstein case files. The Republican president has consistently denied any knowledge of Epstein’s crimes and has said he ended their relationship years ago.
Lutnick repeatedly downplayed his previous interactions with Epstein. He said that after Epstein, who died in a New York jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges, showed a massage table and made a sexual innuendo during a tour of his townhouse in 2005, Lutnick and his wife decided he would “just avoid him.”
Yet Lutnick, who was previously the head of brokerage and investment bank Cantor Fitzgerald, had a pair of interactions and exchanged several emails with Epstein over the years.
They also both invested in the same business venture in 2013, according to the Epstein case files. Lutnick told lawmakers that he was unaware that Epstein was also an investor until the case files were released months ago.
The commerce secretary also described his two other meetings with Epstein. During a family vacation in the Caribbean, Epstein's staff invited them to have lunch on his private island. Describing the 2012 visit, he told the committee: “We sat outside, had lunch. It was boring. We left.”
Lutnick also said he made a brief visit to Epstein's home in 2011 to discuss scaffolding that would be installed at Epstein's townhouse. Lutnick called that meeting “meaningless and inconsequential.”
Democrats pressed Lutnick to answer for his decision to meet up with Epstein after initially determining that he would avoid him. Lutnick responded that he couldn't remember why his family made the visit to Epstein's island.
As they emerged from the interview last week, Democrats criticized Lutnick as evasive and dishonest. Several called on him to resign.
“If a Cabinet Secretary lies to the American public, they should no longer serve in that position. Mr. Lutnick should resign or be fired,” Rep. Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, said on social media shortly after Lutnick's interview.
The White House has stood behind Lutnick, who for years has been a part of Trump's circle.
Lawmakers also last month interviewed Waitt, the cofounder of Gateway computers who dated Maxwell in the early 2000s. Maxwell, who is serving a lengthy prison sentence for helping Epstein traffic girls, had also dated Epstein and was his longtime confidant.
Waitt told lawmakers that he was unaware at the time that either Epstein or Maxwell was committing sexual abuse. He also described meeting Epstein only a handful of times.
“Each of those were very brief and unintentional,” he said, adding that he had never visited Epstein's home, flown on his planes or visited his private island.
Waitt said he found Epstein “somewhat arrogant” and added that he was “off-putting.”
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick arrives for a deposition as part of the House Oversight Committee's investigation of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, May 6, 2026. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
FILE - Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick attends an event on health care affordability in the Oval Office at the White House, April 23, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, File)
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick arrives for a deposition as part of the House Oversight Committee's investigation of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, May 6, 2026. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Montreal Victoire goalie Ann-Renee Desbiens admitted to experiencing goosebumps at the mere thought of envisioning teammate and captain Marie-Philip Poulin lifting the PWHL Walter Cup championship trophy.
“She is a legend. She’s ‘Captain Clutch,’ the one and only one,” Desbiens said during a Zoom conference call with reporters on Wednesday. “For me to witness that, I would be so lucky as a teammate to have this opportunity to share this moment with her because of everything she’s done, and because of everything she’s still doing.”
Poulin and the Victoire aren’t there yet. But they are preparing to open their best-of-five Walter Cup Finals series, hosting the Ottawa Charge on Thursday night. What’s also true is the Victoire wouldn’t be making their first finals appearance if not for Poulin who, at 35, continues adding to the clutch reputation she earned by scoring three Olympic gold medal-clinching goals.
Despite a lower-body injury limiting her ice time, Poulin delivered two winning goals — including the semifinal series clincher on Tuesday night — in Montreal’s five-game elimination of the two-time defending champion Minnesota Frost. Her other winner came in a 1-0 triple-OT decision in Game 2.
In advancing, the Victoire avoided a repeat of their past two semifinal losses, and became the PWHL’s first higher-seeded team to win a playoff series in the league’s three seasons.
“She is the best player in the world,” Victoire coach Kori Cheverie said, noting Poulin also blocked two shots in the closing minutes of Montreal’s 2-1 Game 5 win. “Our team is so proud of her. And we’re lucky that she’s with us and continues to be a great captain.”
It’s the Charge standing in Montreal’s way in the PWHL’s first all-Canadian title matchup. Ottawa returns to the finals after losing in four games to Minnesota last year.
The fourth-seeded Charge are the more rested team after having been off since a 4-3 double-overtime win over Boston in Game 4 on Sunday.
“I’m really proud of our group that we’re able to make it back here,” Ottawa captain Brianne Jenner said. “It’s not easy to get to this point. We know there’s one step left, and it’s going to be the hardest step.”
The meeting is a rematch of last year’s semifinals, in which the fourth-seeded Charge upset Montreal in four games all decided by one goal. Montreal won this year’s season series by going 3-0-1.
The teams feature two respected leaders in Poulin and Jenner, long-time Team Canada teammates. The goalie matchup pits Desbiens, another Team Canada veteran, facing off against Team USA backup Gwyneth Philips, who was last year’s playoff MVP.
“We were a great team last year, and I think we’re a great team this year,” Charge coach Carla MacLeod said. “We know it’s a fresh go at it, but at the same breath there’s a presence in our room that understands what it’s going to take to try to get this thing done.”
This marks the first PWHL final in which both teams are coached by women, which MacLeod called “a complicated” subject to address in a text to The Associated Press.
“In 2026, it shouldn’t be considered special to have two women coaching in a final. But the reality is, there are only two female coaches in the league, so it still matters,” she wrote.
“The PWHL has helped create a space where women can be seen as leaders in professional sport, and that visibility matters,” MacLeod added. “I hope we get to a place where women coaches are given the same opportunities as men — where their experience is recognized simply as experience, and they're trusted to coach and lead all athletes regardless of gender.
“Good hockey is good hockey. Good coaching is good coaching.”
Philips, Ottawa defender Rory Guilday and Montreal forward Hayley Scamurra have a chance to win a second championship in three months. All three were members of the U.S. gold medal-winning team at the Milan Cortina Games.
“It’s been nice for me to come out of that with the gold medal and ride that momentum and bring positive energy to the team,” said Scamurra, who scored Montreal's winning goal in a 2-1 victory against Minnesota in Game 3. “I’ve just been feeling really confident, honestly, all season, but especially after (winning gold). It’s been fun to play with an edge, and excited to bring that to the finals for the Walter Cup.”
As regular-season champs, the Victoire bucked the standings by choosing third-seeded Minnesota over Ottawa as their semifinal opponent. Now they can’t avoid the Charge.
“I don’t know if anything was about avoiding, because I would say that playing the back-to-back Walter Cup champions is probably just as hard of a competition that we would face,” Cheverie said. “At the end of the day, we said we have to go through everybody if we want to get to where we want to get to.”
AP women’s hockey: https://apnews.com/hub/womens-hockey
Ottawa Charge players celebrate after defeating the Boston Fleet in double overtime to win their PWHL hockey playoff series in Ottawa, Ontario, Sunday, May 10, 2026. (Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press)
Montreal Victoire teammates celebrate after defeating the Minnesota Frost in PWHL playoff hockey action in Laval, Que., on Tuesday, May 12, 2026. (Christopher Katsarov/The Canadian Press via AP)
Ottawa Charge forward Michela Cava (86) celebrates after her winning goal with defense Ronja Savolainen (88) in the second overtime of Game 4 in a PWHL hockey playoff series against the Boston Fleet in Ottawa, Ontario, Sunday, May 10, 2026. (Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press)
Montreal Victoire's Marie-Philip Poulin (29) celebrates with goaltender Ann-Renee Desbiens (35) after defeating the Minnesota Frost in PWHL playoff hockey action in Laval, Que., on Tuesday, May 12, 2026. (Christopher Katsarov/The Canadian Press via AP)
