Louisiana Republican Senator John Kennedy is pressing the Department of Justice (DOJ) to question Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick following Lutnick’s explosive claim that the late pedophile Jeffrey Epstein was the “greatest blackmailer ever.”
During a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Tuesday, Kennedy grilled Attorney General Pam Bondi about Lutnick’s comments on the “Pod Force One” podcast, where the Commerce Secretary contradicted a DOJ memo from July that found no evidence of Epstein blackmailing prominent individuals.
“This guy was the greatest blackmailer ever, blackmailed people. That’s how he had money,” Kennedy quoted Lutnick as saying, recalling the secretary’s suggestion that Epstein used videos from “massage room[s]” as leverage.
READ: Louisiana Sen. Kennedy Says ‘Schumer Is Boned,’ Will Be Forced To Engineer Off-Ramp To End Shutdown
Lutnick, who was Epstein’s next-door neighbor, also suggested that other prominent men who associated with Epstein “participated” rather than just ignoring his perverse behavior.
Despite acknowledging she had seen the segment, Bondi stated the DOJ had “not uncovered evidence” of blackmail and suggested there were no immediate plans to interview Lutnick. Bondi told Kennedy, “If Howard Lutnick wants to speak to the FBI and if Director Patel wants to speak to Howard Lutnick, absolutely.”
READ: AG Pam Bondi Slams FBI’s ‘Arctic Frost’ As Political Firestorm Ignites Over GOP Senator Surveillance
The exchange adds new pressure on the DOJ to investigate the late financier’s network, as Bondi and Tennessee Senator Marsha Blackburn also used the hearing to call out Democratic Senator Dick Durbin for not publishing Epstein’s flight logs. RELATED: Senate Judiciary Hearing Heats Up Over Epstein Documents: Bondi And Durbin Clash
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