Trump administration Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick will appear voluntarily before the House Oversight Committee for its probe into Jeffrey Epstein.

Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., confirmed Lutnick’s appearance in a statement sent to Fox News Digital and other outlets on Tuesday.

‘Secretary Lutnick has proactively agreed to appear voluntarily before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform,’ Comer said. ‘I commend his demonstrated commitment to transparency and appreciate his willingness to engage with the Committee. I look forward to his testimony.’

Lutnick is one of several high-profile people in business, entertainment and politics whose name has come up in the trove of Epstein files being released by the federal government.

Recently released photos showing him with Epstein have also served to heap scrutiny on the businessman-turned-Trump administration official, though Lutnick has denied any improper ties related to Epstein.

The White House also defended Lutnick when asked about his upcoming appearance.

‘Secretary Lutnick continues to be a critical asset for President Trump, having played a key role in securing major trade and investment deals. The entire Trump administration, including Secretary Lutnick, remains focused on delivering more wins for the American people,’ White House spokesman Kush Desai told Fox News Digital.

Fox News Digital also reached out to the Commerce Department for comment.

Speculation around Lutnick’s Epstein ties took center stage last week when former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton appeared before the panel under subpoena for their own sworn depositions.

Unlike them, Lutnick was not subpoenaed and is appearing voluntarily.

Bill Clinton told the Oversight Committee he did not ‘remember ever having any conversation with him about Jeffrey Epstein or Ghislaine Maxwell.’

Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton got into a heated back-and-forth with Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., over her own relationship with Lutnick. 

Mace had asked Clinton about her relationship with Lutnick. The former secretary of state insisted her relationship with him went as far as recovery efforts from the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks, when she had been a senator from New York and Lutnick was a businessman who lost hundreds of employees when planes hit the World Trade Center.

Mace suggested on X earlier on Tuesday that she would have moved to have Lutnick subpoenaed by the committee, shortly before Comer’s statement came out.

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President Donald Trump blasted British Prime Minister Keir Starmer Tuesday, saying, ‘This is not Winston Churchill we are dealing with,’ amid a lack of support for the United States and Israel’s joint military operation against Iran.

The president spoke in the Oval Office ahead of a meeting with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz Tuesday and took questions from reporters.

‘By the way, I’m not happy with the U.K. either,’ the president said, referring to Starmer blocking the United States’ use of U.K. bases to launch attacks on Iran.

Starmer initially blocked the U.S. from using British military bases, specifically Diego Garcia, for strikes against Iran during Operation Epic Fury. The U.K. later permitted the use of the bases for ‘defensive strikes’ after Trump’s complaints. 

The president referenced the Chagos Islands Tuesday, which are British territories in the Indian Ocean, saying it has taken ‘three, four days for us to work out where we can land there.’

‘It would have been much more convenient landing there as opposed to flying many extra hours, so we are very surprised,’ he said.

Trump added, though, ‘This is not Winston Churchill that we’re dealing with.’

Later, the president said the United Kingdom has been ‘very, very uncooperative with that stupid island.’ 

‘It’s a shame,’ Trump said. ‘That country, the U.K., and I love that country, I love it.’

‘My mother was born there,’ he said. ‘My father was born. Right? He knows all about my father. My father was born there. So, you know, very places that you sort of automatically very, very feel warmly about.’

The president said again, ‘This is not the age of Churchill.’

Starmer has defended his decision to stay out of the conflict, saying the U.K. was ‘not involved in the ​initial strikes against Iran, and we will not join offensive action now.’ 

‘But in the face of Iran’s barrage of missiles and ⁠drones, we will protect our people in the region,’ Starmer said in an address Monday to Parliament. ‘President Trump has expressed his disagreement with our decision not to get involved in the ​initial strikes, but it is my duty to judge what is in Britain’s national interest. That is what I’ve done, and I stand by it.’

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The State Department revealed communications with Congress on getting Americans out of the Middle East as Democrats on Capitol Hill say the department is ‘refusing to help people leave the region.’

Secretary of State Marco Rubio addressed concerns about Americans still remaining in the Middle East with reporters on Capitol Hill Tuesday, telling U.S. citizens abroad that ‘we need to know where you are’ in order to successfully help them evacuate. 

‘9,000 Americans have been able to leave the region since the start of this war,’ Rubio said. ‘We have about [1,500] Americans that are requesting assistance with departure. We have identified and continue to identify charter flights, military flight options and expanded commercial flight options, meaning working with the airlines to send bigger airplanes with more seats.’

‘Here’s the message I want to deliver Americans who are in the Middle East and in need of assistance… we need to know where you are,’ Rubio added. ‘We need to have contact information for Americans that need assistance. They have to register with us because, as these options begin to open up and as they open up we have to be able to call you, we have to be able to reach you, we have to be able to know where you’re staying so we can get this information to you and coordinate appropriately.’

Rubio strongly encouraged Americans still remaining in the Middle East to utilize the department website to initiate the proceedings to safely evacuate.

The Department of State told Fox News Digital that the department has been in ‘constant contact’ with Congress, specifically related to getting stranded Americans back home. 

‘The State Department is in constant contact with members of Congress in order to provide American citizens in the Middle East with assistance and accurate information on the security situation in the region, State Department deputy spokesperson Tommy Pigott told Fox News Digital in a statement. ‘There is no greater priority than the safety of American citizens both at home and abroad.’

‘The State Department has reached over a thousand Congressional staffers with briefings on the security situation on the Middle East and continues to be in constant contact with the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the House Foreign Affairs Committee to ensure that their constituents have the facts on available support and assistance,’ Pigott added.

Democrats in Congress have accused the Trump administration of not assisting in getting trapped Americans out of the area. 

‘So the State Department is forcing everyone to immediately leave the region but is also refusing to help people leave the region,’ Sen. Chris Murphy, D-CT posted to X. ‘The strike itself is illegal and disastrous but their lack of readiness for what comes next is unforgivable as well.’

‘Incompetence everywhere,’ Murphy added.

Sources at the State Department told Fox News Digital that they contacted the Consular on the Hill with approximately 130 emails and calls from 88 congressional offices through Monday evening, seeking information to provide constituents or request information about citizens in the region. 

The department also told Fox that they communicated with more than 1,300 congressional staffers, held three webinars covering the security situation, and have been in constant communication with the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and House Foreign Affairs Committee on Embassy operating status, regional requests for additional interceptors, and other military equipment. 

The department says they made 60 emails and a dozen calls on policy-related questions, briefing requests, and general inquiries from Congressional offices.

Rubio told reporters on Tuesday he is confident that the administration will be able to safely evacuate all U.S. citizens out of the region. 

‘Iran is run by lunatics, religious fanatic lunatics,’ Rubio said. ‘They have an ambition to have nuclear weapons. They intend to develop those nuclear weapons behind a program of missiles and drones and terrorism [so] the world will not be able to touch them for fear of those things… now is the time to go after them.’ 

During an interview with Fox News Digital, Kristy Ellmer, from New Hampshire, described the ‘shock waves’ and ‘red bursts in air’ she witnessed while with her husband in Dubai.

‘We were just sitting on the beach. We hadn’t been watching the news or anything, just enjoying the morning,’ Ellmer said. ‘All of a sudden, we felt explosions.’

She was scheduled to leave Dubai on Sunday, though she dealt with flight cancellations for Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday.

On Saturday, Iranian airstrikes hit Dubai International Airport as the country exchanged blows with the U.S. and its Israeli allies. 

She still remains in the region, hoping to get out of the country by the end of the week.

Fox News Digital’s Jessica Mekles contributed to this report.

Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s recent reactions to law enforcement, which some have interpreted as pushing back against the New York Police Department, likely won’t hurt him as much as previous mayors, a local crime expert told Fox News Digital, and could end up working to his overall political advantage. 

‘It may not hurt Mamdani in the way that it might hurt another mayor,’ said Manhattan Institute fellow Rafael Mangual. 

‘I do think that Zohran Mamdani is OK with being an opponent and a critic of the NYPD. I think he comes from a sort of ideological perspective that does not believe that the NYPD actually reduces crime. So, if the NYPD pulls back and crime goes up, I think he will see that as an opportunity to further criticize the NYPD and point to reasons why it should be defunded in favor of this Department of Community Safety and some of these other proposals that he would much rather invest in.’

Two significant events in the city indicate that the mayor will not defend the police department, according to Mangual, and could result in cops pulling back due to lack of support. They include an incident last month in Washington Square Park, dubbed ‘Snowballgate,’ where a mob of roughly 100 people pelted NYPD officers with snowballs, leaving two officers injured. 

Rather than condemning the assault, Mamdani appeared to downplay the violence, referring to the perpetrators as ‘kids’ taking part in a snowball fight. 

‘Mamdani did not come out in support of the NYPD in that incident. Instead, he seemed to kind of brush it off and even refused to call for the prosecution of the perpetrators,’ Mangual said, adding that the actions of the mob clearly qualified as an assault against police officers. 

‘Unfortunately, I think the mayor’s response was found wanting. He seemed unwilling to condemn it as an assault. He seemed unwilling to even say that it was something that shouldn’t be done in the future, and I think that is going to create a sense in the NYPD that this administration does not have their back.’

Perhaps more concerning, according to Mangual, was Mamdani’s reaction to a recent officer-involved shooting in Queens where, despite bodycam footage showing an officer being immediately attacked with a deadly weapon after entering a home at the owner’s invitation, Mamdani called on the district attorney to not prosecute the knife wielding suspect who was reportedly having a mental health episode. 

Additionally, Mamdani visited the attacker and his family after the incident.

‘For Mayor Mamdani to come out and not just meet with the family as if this individual is some sort of crime victim, but to also make an open call to the Queens DA not to prosecute the individual for the obvious and clear assault with a deadly weapon on a police officer, I think is just completely irresponsible,’ Mangual said. 

‘But it also will reinforce that sense in the NYPD that I think is already existing: that this administration is an opponent, not a partner. And if that dynamic continues, and it reaches further down into the rank and file, I do think that the city is going to see a more reluctant police force at a time in which it needs it to be proactive.’

As a candidate, Mamdani attempted to distance himself from previous support of police defunding but faced backlash last month when he announced that part of his plan to balance the budget involves cutting the NYPD’s budget and canceling 5,000 new officer hires.

‘I think what we’ve seen in the early days of this administration is that Mamdani is not yet willing to position himself as an open partner of the NYPD,’ Mangual said. ‘He is still trying to make a decision about whether he is going to lean into his more natural identity of an opponent of the NYPD.’

The NYPD is ‘between a rock and a hard place’ under Mamdani, Mangual said, adding that officers will be ‘less likely to put their lives on the line for a city that they do not feel has their back.’

‘He’d be perfectly happy with a world in which he can say, ‘Look, the NYPD is a failure, it’s not keeping crime down, it’s time to try other approaches,” Mangual said.

Fox News Digital reached out to Mamdani’s office for comment. 

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Former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton gave very different responses to House lawmakers last week when asked whether President Donald Trump should testify in their Jeffrey Epstein probe, newly released video shows.

Both testified to the House Oversight Committee behind closed doors for hours in their hometown of Chappaqua, New York.

Each was also asked by the Democratic side whether Trump should come before the committee himself, given his own known past ties to the late financier and sex trafficker.

‘Absolutely,’ Hillary Clinton answered when the question was posed by Democrats’ staff.

She cited the civil case involving writer E. Jean Carroll in which Trump was found civilly liable for defaming Carroll over her allegations that he sexually assaulted her, as well as the 34-count criminal verdict by a New York City court related to allegations he sought to cover up payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels.

Trump has denied any wrongdoing in both cases.

Neither case relates to Epstein, but Hillary Clinton claimed it proved a ‘pattern’ of behavior that would be relevant to the committee’s probe.

‘I think that it would be in keeping with the scope of the investigation of this committee to set up a deposition with President Trump. I know he’s been deposed many, many, many times. He’s taken the Fifth Amendment many, many hundreds of times,’ she argued.

‘So I’m not saying you’re going to get a lot of information, but given what’s in the files, and given past and prior conduct, he would be on my witness list.’

Bill Clinton’s response was far more muted, however.

When asked by Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Calif., the committee’s top Democrat, whether Trump should be called in, the former president did not express support one way or another.

‘That’s for you to decide. But he did know him well, and I once had a brief discussion with him about it,’ Bill Clinton said.

Garcia attempted to move on to the next Democratic lawmaker before Bill Clinton cut in again, ‘I hate this, because I don’t believe I should inject anything, but I do not want to leave the impression, but since there was no follow-up question, he never — the president never, this is 20-something years ago, never said anything to me to make me think he was involved in anything improper with regard to Epstein, either.’

‘He just said, ‘We were friends. And then we had a falling out over a land deal, property deal.’ That’s all,’ Bill Clinton said.

He then said the conversation occurred on Trump’s golf course and that he ‘somehow’ knew that the former president had flown on Epstein’s plane.

‘And he said, you know, ‘We had some great times together over the years, but we fell out all because of a real estate deal.’ And he said, ‘I’m sorry it happened.’ That’s all,’ the former president said.

His deposition included far fewer dramatic moments on the whole than his wife’s, who was confronted by Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., and others during multiple explosive points in her own deposition.

At one point, Hillary Clinton even temporarily stormed out of her seat after it was discovered that Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., had run afoul of the deposition’s rules by posting a photo of the former secretary of state.

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As Israel wages what it describes as an existential campaign against Iran, IDF spokesperson Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin said the war has reinforced a fundamental strategic shift in how Israel sees itself and its alliances, particularly with the United States and regional partners.

‘Israel was never part of this region. We thought we were part of Europe,’ he said. ‘Since the Abraham Accords started, we are having good relations with our neighbors. We are part of this region now.’

He described the 2020 agreements as transformative, building on the peace treaties with Egypt and Jordan. ‘The military cooperation is great. Some of the things are overt and some covert,’ Defrin said in his first English-language media interview since the beginning of the conflict. ‘Iran is a regional threat, and that is clear to everyone now.’

But he stressed the campaign against Tehran is not only regional.

‘It’s a worldwide problem, it’s a global problem, it’s a regional problem and it’s also an Israeli problem,’ he said. ‘They are not hitting only Israel.’

Months of Deception

The spokesperson revealed that the operation was preceded by months of strategic deception.

‘It was a strategic and operational deception,’ he said.

On the eve of the strike, senior officials deliberately maintained routine appearances.

‘Friday night we went to dinner at home. The chief of staff and I returned late in cars that were not our official vehicles. The official cars stayed at home, and we made sure that from satellite imagery it would not look like the Kirya (ministry of defense) was full while all the planes were armed and ready.’

He said Iran was caught off guard. ‘For many long months there was deception, so they were surprised. They fired what they had pre-planned in their preset response.’

‘A Mutual Operation’

The spokesperson said the strike that killed Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, was carried out in coordination with the Trump administration. ‘It was a mutual operation,’ he said. ‘The cooperation between us and the American military is amazing. We have mutual planning and mutual executing for the plans in Iran and beyond.’

He framed the operation as part of unprecedented U.S.-Israeli military coordination. The entire operation in Iran is a mutual and coordinated campaign,’ he said.

He also described a broader international dimension. ‘It’s a problem with the United States of America as well,’ he said, citing attacks by Iranian-backed groups that have killed American service members and threatened shipping lanes.

‘They are posing a threat to the Red Sea… the movement of naval ships in the Suez Canal dropped by 90% since the Houthis started shooting at ships in the Bab al-Mandab Strait,’ he said. ‘It’s a global problem. It’s a terror regime. They are acting all over the world. And again, we had to act.’

He added that regional states increasingly understand the threat. ‘Israel is here to stay. You see the countries of the region placing their trust in Israel.’

Strike on Iranian Targets

Addressing reports that dozens of senior Iranian figures were eliminated in a strike on Tuesday, including claims that 88 members of Iran’s Assembly of Experts were killed, he dismissed the figures.

‘We struck a few targets involved in terrorism. We still don’t have any battle damage assessment. Once we have it, we will publish it. It’s too early.’

He emphasized that the targets were military. ‘We struck military targets,’ he said. ‘They are attacking population centers.’

According to the spokesperson, Israeli intelligence shows Iran is deliberately aiming at civilians ‘to exact a price,’ including launches toward civilian infrastructure.

War Aims

Explaining the decision to launch the campaign, the spokesperson described Iran as an imminent existential threat.

‘We didn’t have another choice, unfortunately. It’s an existential imminent threat. This is a terror regime,’ he said.

‘They declared it. Whatever they declared, they did.’

Asked whether regime change is an objective, he drew a distinction between military aims and political outcomes.

‘As a member of the military, I cannot say we have an aim to remove the regime,’ he said. ‘But definitely, we want to weaken it and create the conditions that one day this regime will be removed by its own people.’

As fighting expands to Lebanon following renewed Hezbollah fire, he reiterated Israel’s view of Iran as the head of a regional network.

‘Hezbollah is an octopus. The head of the octopus is in Iran.’

For Israel, he said, the campaign has clarified a strategic reality shaped by the Abraham Accords and deepened U.S. cooperation. ‘We are part of this region now.’

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