Rep. Jasmine Crockett who sits on the House Oversight Committee — is now calling on her committee to subpoena one member of President Donald Trump’s Cabinet following a revealing interview he conducted in which he mentioned an encounter with convicted child predator Jeffrey Epstein.
Earlier this week, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick made headlines when telling the New York Post‘s Miranda Devine about touring Epstein’s New York townhouse with his wife in 2005. According to Lutnick, Epstein showed off a grand room in his home with a massage table at the center, and told Lutnick and his wife that he got “the right kind of massage” on a daily basis. He also suggested that Epstein may have blackmailed his rich and powerful, telling them to “get a massage” then forcing them to pay hush money to keep him quiet about the encounter.
“[Epstein] may have traded the feds video of his rich and well-connected associates getting massages from young women in exchange for a controversial 2008 plea deal,” Lutnick said of Epstein’s light 18-month sentence in 2006.
During a Friday appearance on MSNBC’s “Deadline: White House,” Crockett told host Nicolle Wallace that she wanted her committee to issue a subpoena for Lutnick to testify about Epstein — particularly about any names the now-deceased sex offender may have mentioned to him.
“I do think that he has names,” Crockett said. “… He obviously felt that there was video footage of people that were important enough that he would end up with a sweetheart deal.”
Crockett also did not rule out bringing former U.S. Attorney Alex Acosta back before the committee for a sworn deposition, as he was the one who signed off on Epstein’s plea agreement. She pointed out that despite Epstein’s indictment being more than 50 pages long, he was able to serve a small amount of time and receive privileges that allowed him to keep moving around.
“Let me make a plea right now, if you have any video footage of anything that was going on at the Epstein home, whether it was in Florida or New York or anywhere else, please feel free to contact the House Democrats on Oversight, and we will do everything we can to make sure the truth starts to come out,” Crockett said.
Her push reflects how quickly Lutnick’s comments ricocheted through Washington. The image of a 2005 townhouse tour and a line about “the right kind of massage” was always going to land with a thud, and it immediately raised new questions about how Epstein operated and who knew what.
Crockett’s approach is straightforward. Put the Commerce Secretary under oath. Ask what he saw, what he heard, and who was involved. If there are names, get them on the record. If there are videos, figure out how to secure them. For a committee that often splits along party lines, this is the kind of testimony that could draw broad interest, if only to clarify rumors that never seem to fade.