U.S. Commerce Secretary Lutnick claims no relationship with Epstein amid calls to resign

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U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick sought to distance himself on Tuesday from Jeffrey Epstein, alleging he "barely had something to do with" the convicted intercourse offender amid requires his resignation over new revelations about ties between the 2.

The U.S. Justice Division in January printed thousands and thousands of latest information associated to Epstein, together with emails that present Lutnick apparently visited Epstein's non-public island for lunch years after he claimed to have lower off ties. Lutnick is dealing with calls from each Democrats and a few Republicans to resign.

Lutnick pushed again in a Senate listening to, saying the 2 males had exchanged solely about 10 emails over 14 years and {that a} lunch with Epstein solely befell as a result of Lutnick was on a ship close to his island, and added that his household was current.

"I didn't have any relationship with him. I barely had something to do with that particular person," he informed a Senate Committee below questioning from Democratic Sen. Chris Van Hollen.

The listening to comes a day after Epstein affiliate Ghislaine Maxwell refused to reply questions at a deposition earlier than the Home oversight committee on Monday, based on lawmakers, drawing criticism from each Republican and Democratic members of the committee.

Immigration chiefs to testify in Congress In the meantime, the heads of the companies finishing up U.S. President Donald Trump's mass deportation agenda will testify in Congress at present and face questions over how they're prosecuting immigration enforcement inside American cities.

Trump's immigration marketing campaign has been closely scrutinized in current weeks, after the capturing deaths in Minneapolis of two protesters by the hands of Homeland Safety officers. The companies have additionally confronted criticism for a wave of insurance policies that critics say trample on the rights of each immigrants dealing with arrest and Individuals protesting the enforcement actions.

Todd Lyons, the performing director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Rodney Scott, who heads U.S. Customs and Border Safety (CBP), and Joseph Edlow, who's the director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Companies (USCIS), will converse in entrance of the Home committee on homeland safety.

The officers will converse at a time of falling public help for a way their companies are finishing up Trump's immigration imaginative and prescient, however as they're flush with money from a spending invoice handed final yr that has helped broaden immigration enforcement actions throughout the nation.

<img loading="lazy" alt="People dressed in U.S. Customs and Border Patrol uniforms enter a building." srcset="https://i.cbc.ca/ais/a4070238-30e1-4940-8ba7-ffddc28ac486,1770730573765/full/max/0/default.jpg?im=Crop%2Crect%3D%280%2C0%2C5195%2C3463%29%3BResize%3D796 796w,https://i.cbc.ca/ais/a4070238-30e1-4940-8ba7-ffddc28ac486,1770730573765/full/max/0/default.jpg?im=Crop%2Crect%3D%280%2C0%2C5195%2C3463%29%3BResize%3D1083 1083w,https://i.cbc.ca/ais/a4070238-30e1-4940-8ba7-ffddc28ac486,1770730573765/full/max/0/default.jpg?im=Crop%2Crect%3D%280%2C0%2C5195%2C3463%29%3BResize%3D1280 1280w" sizes="(max-width: 762px) calc(100vw - 32px),730px" src="https://i.cbc.ca/ais/a4070238-30e1-4940-8ba7-ffddc28ac486,1770730573765/full/max/0/default.jpg?im=Crop%2Crect%3D%280%2C0%2C5195%2C3463%29%3B" style="aspect-ratio:1.5001443834825297" data-cy="image-img"/> Federal officers finishing up U.S. President Donald Trump's mass deportation agenda will converse in entrance of the Home committee on homeland safety this morning. It comes because the administration's immigration marketing campaign has been closely scrutinized in current weeks, following the capturing deaths of two protesters in Minneapolis. (Nam Y. Huh/The Related Press) The administration says that activists and protesters against its operations are those ratcheting up assaults on their officers, not the opposite means round, and that their immigration enforcement operations are making the nation safer by discovering and eradicating individuals who've dedicated crimes or pose a risk to the nation.

Below Lyons's management, ICE has undergone an enormous hiring increase funded by Congress final summer time and immigration officers have deployed in beefed-up enforcement operations in cities throughout the U.S. designed to extend arrests and deportations. His look in Congress comes as lawmakers are locked in a battle over whether or not DHS needs to be funded with out restraints positioned over its officers' conduct.

Lyons is prone to face questioning over a memo he signed final yr telling ICE officers that they did not want a decide's warrant to forcibly enter a home to arrest a deportee — a memo that went towards years of ICE apply and Fourth Modification protections towards unlawful searches.

WATCH | Immigration legislation enforcement officers fatally open fireplace in Minneapolis: ‘Poorly skilled brokers’ murdered Alex Pretti: retired FBI agent

Retired FBI agent Daniel Brunner says that the claims made by the federal officers instantly contradict eyewitness movies of a deadly capturing by immigration legislation enforcement officers in Minneapolis. Below the management of Gregory Bovino, a bunch of U.S. Border Patrol brokers hopscotched across the nation to operations in Los Angeles, Chicago, Charlotte and New Orleans, the place they had been usually accused of indiscriminately questioning and arresting folks they suspected had been within the nation illegally. Bovino says his targets are legit and recognized by means of intelligence, and if his officers use pressure to make an arrest, it is as a result of it is warranted.

Throughout Scott's tenure, his company has taken on a major position in arresting and eradicating unlawful immigrants from contained in the nation. That elevated exercise has change into a flashpoint for controversy and marks a break from the company's conventional job of defending borders and controlling who and what enters the nation.

A Border Patrol agent and Customs and Border Safety officer each opened fireplace throughout the capturing loss of life of Alex Pretti, considered one of two protesters killed in Minneapolis in January. The opposite protester, Renee Good, was shot and killed by an ICE officer.

After the Pretti capturing, Bovino was reassigned and Trump despatched his border czar Tom Homan to Minneapolis to imagine management.

USCIS has additionally confronted criticism for steps it has taken together with subjecting refugees already admitted to the U.S. to a different spherical of vetting and pausing selections on all asylum instances.