WASHINGTON - On March 4, the House Oversight Committee said U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, Kathryn Ruemmler of Goldman Sachs and Apollo Global Management co-founder Leon Black will testify about their respective connections to Jeffrey Epstein, the late financier who was convicted of sex offenses.
Committee chairman Representative James Comer said Lutnick will appear voluntarily. Representatives for both Ruemmler and Black likewise indicated they would respond to lawmakers' questions.
In public comments on the social platform X, Comer praised Lutnick's willingness to engage with the committee, saying he commended the secretary's commitment to transparency. In a separate post, the chairman said he was requesting testimony from several other individuals, including Microsoft founder Bill Gates, Lesley Groff, Sarah Kellen, Ted Waitt and Doug Band.
Comer's list of requested witnesses includes Doug Band, the founder of the consulting firm Teneo who previously held a role at the Clinton Foundation. Former President Bill Clinton testified before the panel last week regarding his own interactions with Epstein. According to reporting cited by the committee, Groff and Kellen are former employees of Epstein, and Waitt is identified as the former chief executive of Gateway.
Representatives for Leon Black said he looked forward to answering the committee's questions. Other representatives for the people named by Comer either could not be reached immediately or did not respond to requests for comment. Goldman Sachs did not immediately reply to a request about Ruemmler, who is leaving the firm.
The Justice Department released millions of pages of records in January relating to Epstein. Those files included emails showing that Lutnick visited Epstein's private Caribbean island for a lunch years after Lutnick had said he had cut off ties with Epstein.
Lutnick, who was appointed as Commerce Secretary by President Donald Trump last year, has faced calls from members of both political parties to resign. The Commerce Department did not offer comment on the matter. Lutnick told Axios he was prepared to testify and was quoted as saying: "I have done nothing wrong, and I want to set the record straight."
The former chief executive of Cantor Fitzgerald is among a number of prominent men in politics, business and entertainment whose past associations with Epstein have come under increased scrutiny.
Other developments tied to the document release and ensuing scrutiny include legal action and corporate personnel changes. On Monday, shareholders filed a lawsuit against Apollo Global Management and co-founders Leon Black and Marc Rowan. The complaint alleges the pair and the firm misled shareholders for nearly five years about Apollo's business dealings with Epstein.
Separately, Goldman Sachs disclosed that Kathryn Ruemmler would resign as the firm's chief legal officer after documents showed she accepted gifts from Epstein and advised him on how to address media inquiries related to his crimes. According to a source cited by Reuters, Ruemmler's resignation will take effect on June 30.
Last month, Lutnick told congressional investigators he "barely had anything to do with" Epstein. That statement has been called into question by the newly released documents, which appear to contradict earlier remarks. Lutnick has said he and Epstein exchanged roughly 10 emails, met three times over a 14-year period and that one lunch on Epstein's island occurred while he and his family were on a nearby boat.
According to reporting cited by the committee, Bill Gates acknowledged two affairs with Russian women that Epstein later discovered. Gates has said those affairs did not involve Epstein's victims, and a Gates Foundation spokesperson said Gates accepted responsibility for his actions in a conversation with the foundation's employees.
The committee's requested witnesses span the corporate, philanthropic and political spheres. The forthcoming hearings follow the Justice Department's release of documents and a wave of public and private responses from companies and individuals identified in those materials. How the committee proceeds with additional subpoenas or voluntary appearances has not been detailed publicly.