WashingtonLutnick: 2 hours on Epstein’s island in 2012, no explanation.
The US Commerce Secretary told Congress he cannot recall the visit, contradicting a past public claim he had cut all ties with Epstein years earlier.
The House Oversight Committee said lying to Congress is a felony; no follow-up hearing has been scheduled.
Sources: Reuters
THE STATUTE
18 U.S.C. § 1001 makes it a felony to knowingly make a materially false statement to any branch of the federal government. The maximum penalty is five years; perjury under § 1621 — which requires a sworn oath — carries the same. Most congressional witnesses are charged under § 1001, not perjury, because committee testimony is often unsworn but still covered.
THE 'I DON'T RECALL' DEFENSE
Claiming faulty memory is the standard shield because prosecutors must prove the witness knew the statement was false when made. Bronx v. United States (1973) established that an answer literally true under one interpretation cannot sustain perjury — the burden of precise questioning falls on the examiner. This is why oversight transcripts are dense with leading specifics.
THE REFERRAL PATH
Congress cannot prosecute. A committee votes to refer a perjury case to DOJ, which then decides whether to charge. Referrals are common; indictments are rare. Of the roughly two dozen referrals in the past decade, fewer than a handful produced charges — Roger Stone and Michael Cohen are the recent exceptions.
WHO EPSTEIN WAS IN 2012
By 2012, Epstein had already served his 13-month Florida sentence (2008-2009) on state prostitution charges under a non-prosecution agreement that shielded him from federal charges. The deal, brokered by then-US Attorney Alex Acosta, was sealed from victims in violation of the Crime Victims' Rights Act — a fact only ruled on in 2019. To New York's financial elite, the conviction was treated as resolved; the island remained an active social venue until 2019.
LITTLE ST. JAMES
Epstein bought the 70-acre Caribbean island in 1998 for $7.95 million. It sits in the US Virgin Islands, three miles east of St. Thomas — US territory, but with its own attorney general who eventually sued Epstein's estate. Flight logs from the island's airstrip and pilot Larry Visoski's testimony became the central evidentiary record of who visited.
THE OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE
House Oversight is the chamber's main investigative body, with subpoena power over the entire executive branch. Unlike judiciary committees that focus on legislation, Oversight's mandate is institutional — it can compel testimony from any federal official without a pending bill. The cost of stonewalling is reputational more than legal; contempt referrals to DOJ rarely produce prosecution when the executive declines to charge its own.