Link without paywall: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/trump-cabinet-secretary-faces-call-to-testify-over-his-explosive-epstein-claims/ar-AA1NJyHw

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick may be forced to testify to Congress after suggesting that Jeffrey Epstein secured a sweetheart plea deal by blackmailing people with compromising videos.

Speaking on the New York Post’s Pod Force One podcast, Lutnick, a billionaire financier who lived next to Epstein before he was exposed as a pedophile, described how Epstein gave him and his wife a tour of his Manhattan townhouse, which featured a massage table as its centerpiece.

“I say to him, ‘Massage table in the middle of your house? How often do you have a massage?’” Lutnick recalled. “And he says, ‘Every day.’ And then he gets, like, weirdly close to me, and he says, ‘And the right kind of massage.’”

Lutnick claimed that some of Epstein’s wealthy and powerful associates would have received massages from young women and girls at Epstein’s home, and that the encounters were filmed for blackmail purposes.

“They get a massage, that’s what his M.O. was. ‘Get a massage, get a massage,’ and what happened in that massage room, I assume, was on video,” Lutnick said. “This guy was the greatest blackmailer ever. That’s how he had money.”

  • zd9@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    1
    ·
    16 days ago

    No, this will not amount to anything. Howard Lutnick is a chief architect for every bad thing happening now. Him, Stephen Miller, and Russ Vought (and JD “Just Dance” Vance) are the primary driving forces behind this authoritarian takeover. They have to go.

    • Basic Glitch@sh.itjust.worksOP
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      edit-2
      16 days ago

      Lutnuick made the the comments on an NYT podcast, but the article is about the top Dem on the House oversight committee saying he wanted to subpoena him to testify before Congress.

      “Those were some incredible comments, and I think that it just reinforces why it’s so important that we get the full files released by the DOJ and the Trump administration,” Garcia told CNN’s

      “And quite frankly, after those comments by Mr. Lutnick, we need to speak to him in front of the entire Oversight Committee. We’re very interested in understanding what exactly he knows and where those theories come from,” Garcia added. “Anyone, particularly if you’re in the Trump administration, making those comments so freely—you have to believe they have additional information, and we’re going to follow up.”

  • Triumph@fedia.io
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    0
    ·
    16 days ago

    LFG. Dude had to know what he was getting into making a statement like that, he’s got receipts.

    • Jax@sh.itjust.works
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      16 days ago

      This guy wholeheartedly supported the tariffs and raised funds for Trumps 2020 and 2024 campaigns.

      Draw your own conclusions, but this could just end up being yet another diversionary tactic to waste the courts time while they grab more power.

    • crank0271@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      0
      ·
      16 days ago

      I don’t know… are you ready to find out how many people in this country can suddenly justify sexual assault if “it’s just a massage, what’s the big deal??”

      • pelespirit@sh.itjust.works
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        16 days ago

        You know, you make a good point. If people just hear about someone getting a massage, they could probably dismiss it. If you have a 14 y.o. massaging a 50 year old man as a visual, that is a different matter all together. Same with Trump grabbing woman by the pussy. Seeing that happen vs hearing him talk about it, let’s people think he’s exaggerating. Seeing as how a jury with trumpers on it found that he raped Jean Carrol, he wasn’t exaggerating.

        • Em Adespoton@lemmy.ca
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          16 days ago

          If you have a 14 yo massaging a 50 yo AND VIDEO OF IT IS USED AS BLACKMAIL, that’s a different matter altogether.