Lutnick Donated $5 Million to House Republicans Before Epstein Testimony

WASHINGTON — Howard Lutnick, President Donald Trump’s secretary of commerce, made a $5 million donation last month to a committee supporting House Republicans, an unusually large contribution for a sitting Cabinet secretary.

The donation was made April 1, four weeks after the House Oversight Committee arranged to interview Lutnick about his ties to sex offender and financier Jeffrey Epstein. The closed-door interview took place May 6.

Lutnick gave the money to the Congressional Leadership Fund, the main super political action committee behind House Republicans and Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., according to a new filing made public Thursday. Lutnick has recently been a major Republican donor, but this was his first contribution since being named commerce secretary. It ties his largest-ever federal donation, $5 million he gave to Trump’s super PAC in 2024.

“Mr. Lutnick made a political donation in his personal capacity, just as many Cabinet secretaries from both parties have done in the past,” said Kristen Eichamer, a spokesperson for the Department of Commerce.

Federal employees are permitted to make donations, but it is rare to see such a high-ranking official donate such a significant amount. Lutnick is the first Trump Cabinet official to make a seven-figure disclosed federal donation after being confirmed to a post, according to a review of federal election filings.

The closest analogue in Trump’s administration was the role played by Elon Musk during his stint as a part-time government employee, during which he continued to donate millions to conservative causes.

The House Oversight Committee did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The donation came at a sensitive time for Lutnick. Lawmakers have been scrutinizing his ties to Epstein since January, when the government released millions of pages of records related to Epstein. Lutnick lived next door to Epstein on the Upper East Side of New York City’s Manhattan borough for more than a decade, and the commerce secretary’s name appeared in more than 250 documents in the Epstein files, a review by The New York Times found.

Lutnick had claimed until recently to have not been in the same room with Epstein after an encounter in 2005. But the files showed that Lutnick traveled to Epstein’s private island in 2012 and that they had other interactions.

Democrats grilled Lutnick about those connections in a previously scheduled congressional hearing in February. Then, on March 3, the Republican chair of the House Oversight Committee announced that Lutnick had agreed to appear before the committee to testify about the extent of his relationship with Epstein. The appearance helped to stave off a possible subpoena by lawmakers, who were considering ordering Lutnick to testify.

According to a subsequently published transcript, Lutnick told lawmakers that he had met Epstein three times: once for coffee in Epstein’s home in New York after they became neighbors, once to discuss construction on Epstein’s home in New York, and once when Lutnick and his family visited Epstein’s island in 2012. Lutnick condemned Epstein’s conduct and described the interactions as “meaningless and inconsequential.”

The disclosure Thursday listed Lutnick’s “employer” as Cantor Fitzgerald and his “occupation” as chair. Lutnick completed a divestment from Cantor in September, leaving his sons in charge of the firm. It was unclear why the filing listed him as chair, though errors on Federal Election Commission filings are not uncommon. The super PAC, which Lutnick backed with $2.7 million between 2022 and 2024 as well, declined to comment on the donation or entry.

The Congressional Leadership Fund is charged with helping to reelect House Republican incumbents, including those on the House Oversight Committee, and winning seats in battleground districts. Another major donor to the effort last month was Warren Stephens, Trump’s ambassador to the United Kingdom, who gave $250,000 to the super PAC.

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This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

By Theodore Schleifer and Ana Swanson/Tierney L. Cross
c. 2026 The New York Times Company

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