MS NOW’s Jen Psaki Trashes Trump Honcho for Bringing His Children to Epstein Island

MS NOW host and former Biden White House press secretary Jen Psaki ripped Trump Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick over his visit to Jeffrey Epstein’s private island — along with his children.

Secretary Lutnick was grilled at a hearing Tuesday over new revelations about his association with Epstein, including his visit to the private island with his wife and children in 2012 — years after Epstein’s conviction on sex crimes.

On Tuesday’s edition of MS NOW’s The Briefing with Jen Psaki, Psaki recapped Lutnick’s statements before the new files came out and the family trip that was revealed in the last batch of files — and scrutinized at the hearing:

JEN PSAKI: The latest batch of Epstein files also detailed the social and business entanglements Epstein had with Trump Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick. Now, being associated with Jeffrey Epstein is not a crime. Epstein was a businessman and a creepy version of a socialite.

He did business with and socialized with a lot of people, as we now know. But check out how Trump Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick described his relationship to Epstein late last year. I mean, this was Lutnick telling The New York Post about an incident with Epstein, who happened to be Lutnick’s next door neighbor when he visited his house back in 2005.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HOWARD LUTNICK, COMMERCE SECRETARY: I say to him, massage table in the middle of your house? How often you have a massage? And he says, every day. And then he, like, gets like weirdly close to me. And he says, and the right kind of massage.

Now my wife is standing here. So, she looks at me and I look at her and we say, I`m sorry, we have to go. And we left.

And in the six or eight steps it takes to get from his house to my house, my wife and I decided that I will never be in the room with that disgusting person ever again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PSAKI: Okay. That’s a — he was quite the storyteller there. I will never be in the room with that disgusting person ever again. That is how Lutnick described his decisions to cut — his decision to cut ties with Jeffrey Epstein in 2005.

I mean, Lutnick even went further, telling The New York Post not only that he made the decision to never see Epstein after that, but that he, in fact, never did see Epstein after that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LUTNICK: I was never in the room with him socially for business or for even philanthropy if that guy was there. I wasn’t going because he`s gross.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PSAKI: Yeah, he is gross. But again, that was just four months ago saying that he was never even in a room with Epstein. Not socially, not for business, not even philanthropy. Then in this latest batch of Epstein files, well, we got this. This is an email from Howard Lutnick to Jeffrey Epstein from December 19th, 2012.

And yes, if you’re doing the math, it is seven years after Lutnick claims to have cut Epstein out socially, to have been discussing by him to think he’s gross, in which Lutnick arranged to have lunch with Epstein on Epstein`s private island, saying, quote, “Hi, Jeff, we are landing in Saint Thomas early Saturday afternoon. Where are you located? What is the exact location for my captain? Does Sunday evening for dinner sound good? I have another couple with me on my boat. Each of us has four children, two 16-year-olds, two 14-year-olds, a 13-year-old, a 12-year-old and 11-year-old, and a seven-year-old. Thanks, Howard.”

Epstein then replied, quote, “come Saturday or Sunday for lunch?” And gave the exact location of his island, to which Lutnick replied, “okay, lunch on Sunday. See you then.”

Now, I don`t know if Howard Lutnick does not include an island as being in the same room as him, but that is quite a stretch. That all seems pretty social to me now.

And when The New York Times confronted Lutnick about the existence of those emails, Lutnick said he could not comment on the island visit because he had not seen the latest Epstein documents. Now, that wasn’t exactly the question, was it? I’m guessing anyone would remember taking their family to an island with a known predator, I would think.

Lutnick told the Times, quote, “I spent zero time with him,” and then Lutnick hung up on the reporter.

Now, today, Senator Chris Van Hollen held Lutnick’s feet a little closer to the fire, much closer, asking him about the island visit while Lutnick was testifying to the Senate. And this time, Secretary Lutnick seemed to remember a lot more about that trip.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. CHRIS VAN HOLLEN (D-MD): Did you, in fact, make the visit to Jeffrey Epstein’s private island?

LUTNICK: I did have lunch with him as I was on a boat going across on a family vacation. My wife was with me, as were my four children and nannies. I had another couple with — they were there as well with their children, and we had lunch on the island.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PSAKI: Again, there’s a lot to unpack there. Taking your children to the island with Jeffrey Epstein and nannies, lots, but we don’t have time for that. But again, it’s not a crime to have lunch with someone, no matter how terrible they are. It’s not even a crime to lie to the press.

But why was Howard Lutnick lying? Why was he so emphatically denying he had any relationship at all with Jeffrey Epstein, when he clearly did have a relationship with Jeffrey Epstein?

Watch above via MS NOW’s The Briefing with Jen Psaki.

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