Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick trashed FBI Director Kash Patel’s assessment that there is no evidence Jeffrey Epstein trafficked young women to other people.
Speaking on the New York Post’s Pod Force One podcast, Lutnick, a top ally of Donald Trump, said he believes Epstein also used his victims to film compromising videos to blackmail people, which he claims helped Epstein secure his controversial 2008 sweetheart plea deal.
Lutnick, who used to be Epstein’s neighbor in New York City, made the remarks while describing how Epstein showed him and his wife his “massage room” during a tour of his Manhattan apartment.
“I say to him, ‘Massage table in the middle of your house? How often do you have a massage?’” Lutnick said. “And he says, ‘Every day.’ And then he gets, like weirdly close to me, and he says, ‘And the right kind of massage.’”
Lutnick went on to suggest that some of Epstein’s high-profile friends and associates would have “participated” in using the massage room, and alleged that encounters involving young women and girls were then filmed by the billionaire financier.
“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.”
Lutnick’s claims seemingly contradict what Patel said about the late pedophile while being grilled in a September Senate Judiciary Committee. During an exchange with Republican Sen. John Kennedy, Patel said there is “no credible information” to suggest Epstein trafficked young women to his friends or associates.
“If there were, I would bring the case yesterday that he trafficked to other individuals,” Patel said.
The remarks were immediately condemned by a group of Epstein’s victims, who issued a joint statement saying they were “struggling to understand” why Patel would suggest otherwise.
“Even the limited information that has been made public includes accounts such as Virginia Giuffre’s report that Epstein trafficked her to other individuals besides himself,” the statement said. “We also understand… that there are FBI reports documenting witness interviews in which victims of Epstein and [Ghislaine] Maxwell named at least 20 other men they were trafficked to.”
The commerce secretary expanded on his belief that Epstein used compromising videos to secure his 2008 plea deal, which allowed him to avoid federal child sex offenses and instead serve an 18-month prison sentence for soliciting a minor for prostitution. The deal also permitted Epstein to go on “work release” to his office during his sentence.
“I assume way back when they traded those videos in exchange for him getting that 18-month sentence, which allowed him to have visits and be out of jail,” Lutnick said. “I mean, he’s a serial sex offender. How could he get 18 months and be able to go to his office during the day and have visitors and stuff? There must have been a trade.
“So, my assumption, I have no knowledge, but my assumption is there was a trade for the videos, because there were people on those videos.”
Microsoft founder Bill Gates, whom Lutnick suggested could have used Epstein’s massage room, described the allegation as “absolutely false.” His spokesperson told the Post: “Gates met with Epstein to discuss philanthropy and nothing else.”
The Daily Beast has contacted the FBI for comment.
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