Howard Lutnick and the 'I Don't Recall' Defense

Howard Lutnick, Commerce Secretary of the United States, sat in a closed-door House Oversight session and told lawmakers he couldn't explain why he had lunch on Jeffrey Epstein's private island in 2012. Four years after Epstein's 2008 conviction for soliciting sex from a minor. Four years. Rep. Yassamin Ansari said flat out she wasn't alleging a crime. The question she was raising was simpler: why was he there at all, and why can't he say?

Here's the version of this story that doesn't happen in Washington. A union shop steward shows up to a convicted sex offender's property four years after the conviction. HR doesn't forget that. His coworkers don't forget that. The guy running the local doesn't forget that. "I don't recall why I went" is not an answer that gets you to the next Monday, let alone a Senate confirmation. But Lutnick sits in front of Congress, tells them the invite came because Epstein heard his family was vacationing nearby in the Virgin Islands, says he genuinely can't explain it beyond that — and Republicans call it transparent. Democrats call for his resignation. Nobody agrees on anything. He keeps the job.

This isn't about whether Lutnick broke a law. It's about a system that has two operating standards and doesn't pretend otherwise anymore. The rules aren't broken. They were written this way.