WATCH: Dem Senator Presses Howard Lutnick on Not Replying to Letter on Epstein Ties

Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) started his questioning of Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick on Wednesday morning by criticizing Lutnick  for not responding to a letter he sent him with questions about Lutnick’s ties to dead sex criminal Jeffrey Epstein.

“No response, at all, to that letter,” Van Hollen complained at one point.

The senator said he sent the letter demanding more answers from Lutnick after the secretary testified in front of a Senate committee in February. “I have nothing to hide,” Lutnick told Van Hollen at the time.

Van Hollen on Wednesday said he assumed that remained Lutnick’s stance — but that he wished he got a response in the meantime.

“So why have you not responded to the letter that Sen. [Jeff] Merkley (D-OR) and I sent, following up on the last hearing?” Van Hollen asked. “Asking for documents, just to be transparent about the situation, and answering the questions that we presented.”

“The last time we were together, I agreed and answered every question on that topic with this committee,” Lutnick responded. “I have voluntarily agreed in less than two weeks to sit and answer questions on this topic, fully, whatever questions are asked of me, in less than two weeks.”

“I would ask if there are any questions that you want me to answer, give them to your house colleagues and I am going to answer them all. But I am here today to testify about the budget,” he continued.

Lutnick told the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee in February that he once went to the island owned by Epstein. He testified that he and his family stopped by the island while they were vacationing by boat, and claimed they stayed on the island for approximately an hour to have lunch.

That came after Lutnick previously claimed his interactions with Epstein stopped in 2005, three years before Epstien was convicted on prostitution charges involving a minor. A batch of Epstein-related documents earlier this year revealed the two spoke more recently than that, however, and his trip to Epstein’s island happened in 2012.

Lutnick agreed to testify before the House Oversight Committee on his relationship with Epstein last month, saying he has “done nothing wrong and I want to set the record straight.” That hearing is set for May 6.

Watch above via CSPAN.

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