White House press secretary Carolyn Levitt abruptly cut short a briefing with reporters on Tuesday after a reporter asked her about Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick’s relationship with Jeffrey Epstein.
The questioning came hours after Lutnick revealed in response to questions from congressional lawmakers about documents released by the Justice Department that he misled the public about the extent of his relationship with a convicted pedophile sex trafficker who killed himself in prison while awaiting trial.
Levitt was about 20 minutes into his regular briefing with the White House press corps when a reporter asked if President Donald Trump would stand behind Lutnick, who had admitted to members of the Senate Commerce Committee that he had visited Epstein’s notorious private island, Little St. James.
She responded that Trump “fully supports” Lutnick and described him as “a very important member of President Trump’s team.”
But instead of allowing reporters to probe further or ask any other questions about Trump’s views on Lutnick, Levitt launched into a monologue chastising reporters for not asking the president about various positive statistics the administration has on issues important to the president.
White House press secretary Carolyn Levitt quit Tuesday after chastising reporters for asking questions about an administration member’s relationship with Jeffrey Epstein (Getty).
“I’ll just point out that there are a lot of wins in the news this week that people in this room haven’t asked about — you’re asking questions about the same topic — so I want to point them out for you again,” she said.
Leavitt then went off on a list of day-old topics, including this past Friday’s stock market results, a medical group announcing its opposition to gender reassignment surgery on minors, or the recent drop in the national crime rate.
“So we’re going to get back to business. The president is very busy tonight, and you’ll see him tomorrow in the East Room on a program about his administration’s energy policy,” she said.
She then turned and left the room with a group of aides in tow.
Levitt also responded to questions about another document released by the administration that relayed a secondhand report that Trump allegedly spoke to Florida police chief Pam Beach about Epstein and claimed that “everybody” knew about the pedophile’s illicit activities with minors.
The Commerce Secretary admitted visiting Epstein’s island in 2012, nearly a decade after he claimed he had cut off contact with her (Getty)
Although he did not confirm whether the alleged 2006 phone call actually took place, he claimed that Trump has always been “honest and transparent” about his relationship with Epstein, who was once one of his closest friends before the two men fell out in the early 2000s.
Lutnick, a longtime friend of the president who pushed to become Treasury secretary after serving as finance chief for Trump’s 2024 campaign, has not been as “honest and transparent” about his relationship with the dead rapist.
He said New York Post In October, he broke off contact with Epstein — his onetime neighbor — after a 2005 encounter he claimed left him so distraught that he vowed “never to room with that despicable man again.” Documents released by the Justice Department showed that Lutnick not only maintained a relationship with Epstein eight years ago. After serving time in prison for federal sex-trafficking charges and state-level crimes related to his preying on young girls — but also arranged a tour of Epstein’s so-called “rape island” in 2012.
The commerce secretary admitted to visiting the infamous land mass, which is part of the US Virgin Islands, under questioning by Maryland Senator Chris Van Hollen on Tuesday.
“I had lunch with him when I was going on a boat on a family vacation. My wife was with me, my four children and grandchildren,” he said.
“We had lunch on the island, it’s true, for an hour, and we went with all my children and my wife … I don’t remember why we did that.”
Lutnick also claimed in his testimony that he had “no relationship with Epstein” and “had no relationship whatsoever with that person.”
