Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick donated $5 million to House Republicans shortly before appearing for closed-door testimony before the House Oversight Committee investigating ties to the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, according to a recent Federal Election Commission filing.
The contribution was made to the Congressional Leadership Fund, the main super PAC aligned with House Republican leadership that helps fund competitive congressional races. The hefty donation was made on April 1, four weeks before Lutnick sat for a transcribed interview with lawmakers examining his relationship with Epstein and discrepancies in his previous public statements about the extent of their association.
“Mr. Lutnick made a political donation in his personal capacity, just as many Cabinet Secretaries from both parties have done in the past,” Kristen Eichamer, a spokeswoman for the Department of Commerce, said in a statement to MS NOW.
The House Oversight Committee did not immediately respond to MS NOW’s request for comment.
Lutnick has long been one of President Donald Trump’s top financial supporters and fundraisers. During the 2024 election cycle, he contributed millions of dollars to Trump’s re-election campaign, hosted high-dollar fundraising events and later joined Trump’s transition team before being selected to serve as commerce secretary in the president’s second administration.
Despite being a major Republican donor, the latest donation marked his first political contribution since assuming the role.
Lutnick, the former CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald, testified before the bipartisan committee on May 6 in a transcribed interview focused on his relationship with Epstein and questions surrounding previously undisclosed interactions between the two men.
Lawmakers have been reviewing newly released Epstein files and testimony from former associates as part of a broader inquiry into how Epstein maintained ties to powerful figures for years despite mounting allegations of sexual abuse and trafficking involving underage girls.
During the closed-door testimony, Lutnick acknowledged visiting Epstein’s private island in 2012 and said he could not recall why his family had lunch there. He maintained he “barely had anything to do” with Epstein and denied witnessing misconduct
The testimony came after Justice Department records and newly public documents contradicted some of Lutnick’s earlier public claims that he had largely severed ties with Epstein by the mid-2000s.
Republicans on the committee, including Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., praised Lutnick for cooperating voluntarily with investigators, while Democrats sharply criticized his testimony as evasive and inconsistent.
Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., said after the interview that Lutnick failed to fully explain the extent of his interactions with Epstein and he argued that if Trump had watched the testimony, “he would have fired Howard Lutnick.”
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