White House backs Commerce Secretary amid Epstein disclosures

(The Center Square) – President Donald Trump continues to back Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick after Lutnick admitted having visited Jeffrey Epstein’s private island before a Senate committee Tuesday. “Secretary Lutnick remains a very important member of President Trump's team, and the President fully supports the secretary,” said White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt at a briefing Tuesday. In an October podcast interview with New York Post Editor Miranda Devine, Lutnick had said that he and his wife did not pursue any kind of relationship with Epstein after moving next door and meeting him in 2005. They were, according to Lutnick, put off by some comments Epstein made about his massage table while giving them a tour of his home. “My wife and I decided that I will never be in the room with that disgusting person ever again. So I was never in the room with him socially, for business, or even philanthropy. If that guy was there, I wasn't going because he's gross,” Lutnick sai