Rep. Madeleine Dean (D-PA) hammered Trump Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick during a House hearing on Thursday over inconsistencies in his past statements regarding his relationship to convicted sex criminal Jeffrey Epstein.

“Let’s start with your relationship with sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein. In October, you told the New York Post with colorful narration that the last time you saw Jeffrey Epstein was in 2005 when you took a tour of his house, which happened to be right next door to yours,” began Dean, adding:

You claim you and your wife were so grossed out by this disgusting person, you swore you would never go back. But when the Epstein files came out, it turned out that was a lie.

You were forced to admit that you had visited Epstein’s private island in 2012, four years after Epstein pled guilty to soliciting a minor for prostitution and was labeled a sex offender. You brought along your wife, your kids, your nannies to the Predator’s Island. Incredibly poor judgment. But that even wasn’t the whole truth.

It turns out that five days after visiting his island, you and Epstein signed a business deal together as co-investors in a digital advertising company, AdFin. An email showed you stayed in touch with Epstein about this deal as late as 2018. Secretary Lutnick, why did you lie to the New York Post about your relationship with Jeffrey Epstein?

Lutnick replied with mic off and Dean jumped back in, “Oh, I did hear that. Please don’t repeat your gracious offer to speak behind closed doors, not under oath, without the ability of this committee to question you. The American people want to know: why did you lie about your relationship with Epstein?”

Lutnick replied, “House Oversight Committee and I have agreed. We will spend the time–”

Dean jumped back in, “Reclaiming my time. I do not accept that answer. We’ve heard that one. We are our own committee. We have our own reason to test your credibility and veracity. Please answer the question. Why did you lie to the Post?”

Lutnick repeated, “I have voluntarily agreed to spend the time and talk about it.”

“I reclaim the time. Let the record reflect you’re dodging the question. The cover-up continues. You know what? In your conversations with the president, is the president concerned about your continued relationship that you had with Mr. Epstein as recently as 2018?”

Lutnick answered, “I’m not going to discuss conversations I have with the president. That is not something I’m going to do.”

“If you remember, in that interview you said you would never be in the room with him socially, for business, or even philanthropy. President Trump has just fired three cabinet secretaries — three women: Kristi Noem, Pam Bondi, Lori Chavez-DeRemer. If President Trump had even a shred of concern about accountability for Jeffrey Epstein’s enablers, he would fire you too. Beyond AdFin, what other financial ties do you have to Jeffrey Epstein?” Dean questioned.

Lutnick replied, “As I said, I’m going to answer all these.”

Dean repeated the question, “Beyond AdFin, what other financial ties? You’re the Commerce Secretary. We have a right to ask this question and get it answered.”

Lutnick replied, “Again, I’m not going to spend the budget day discussing something I’ve set aside time to spend on this topic with your House colleagues.”

Dean then moved on, “Let me switch topics.”

Watch the clip above via C-SPAN.

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