White House Defends Ludnick Amid Epstein Tie Scrutiny (Full Transcript)

[00:00:00] Speaker 1: So the White House is standing by President Trump's Commerce Secretary, who has become one of the highest ranking officials here at the White House, to face scrutiny over his ties to Jeffrey Epstein. Not because Howard Ludnick has been accused of any criminal wrongdoing in regards to Jeffrey Epstein, but because he claimed in multiple interviews that he had cut ties with Jeffrey Epstein years before he actually had, according to emails that were released by this Justice Department. Caroline Leavitt, the Press Secretary at the briefing on Tuesday, was asked about the President's confidence level in Howard Ludnick. She said that he remains a very important member of President Trump's team and went on to criticize the media for asking questions about the same subject repeatedly and not, for example, asking about the Dow hitting 50,000 last week. Now this comes as the President himself has said he believes the country is ready to move on from the Epstein questions, but it shows just how far reaching this really is. Howard Ludnick was testifying in a broadband hearing on Capitol Hill today when he was facing all of these questions about his own comments about Epstein. Democrats say that the lack of credibility and the inconsistencies from the Commerce Secretary are a reason that he's not fit for this job. And even one Republican, Thomas Massey, has noted that others have lost their jobs in other governments for their ties to Epstein for much less than what Mr. Ludnick has said.