Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has responded to fears about potential government corruption with a weird and crude reference to sucking sounds.
The bizarre comments were made at an economic forum in Washington on Friday, as the former associate of Jeffrey Epstein gave a spirited defense of the administration’s controversial deal with semiconductor manufacturer Intel.
The deal was struck last year, giving the government an almost 10 percent equity stake in Intel stock in exchange for converting previously awarded federal grants under the Biden-era CHIPS Act.
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But the move was contentious because it represented an unusually direct form of government intervention in a private company, with critics from both parties concerned that it blurred the line between regulator and owner.
Speaking on stage with the Commerce Secretary, moderator Ben Smith told Lutnick that while “a lot of people see the promise” of such arrangements, “the central worry is you start doing these one-off deals, these one-off relationships, and it just lends itself, whether now or in the future, to a kind of self-dealing crony capitalism.”
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“How do you avoid that?” Smith asked.
Lutnick, 64, responded with a head-scratching comment.
“The worst thing I learned when I went into government is the sucking sound of how many people try to suck off of the U.S. government. I mean, it’s so demoralizing to watch that stuff,” he told the audience, some of whom looked slightly perplexed.
“Look, we are here for outcomes and winners,” he continued. “You give money to a loser, you’re going to have a loser outcome. I want to be proud of what we accomplish. We’re going to give money to winners who are going to win, so that I can be proud and this administration can be proud of the outcomes.”
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Lutnick’s appearance capped off the four-day Semafor World Economy conference—a high-level gathering of global CEOs, policymakers, journalists, and administration officials in the nation’s capital.
Several other Trump allies also appeared on stage throughout the week, including MAGA strategist Steve Bannon (who refused to endorse JD Vance as Trump’s heir apparent); acting attorney Todd Blanche (who backed Melania Trump’s call for Congress to hear testimony from Jeffrey Epstein’s victims) and celebrity chef Jose Andres (who warned about the food crisis in parts of the Middle East compounded by the war in Iran).
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But Lutnick’s comments, which generated equally crude responses online, were notable given that he also oversees many of the administration’s investment initiatives. He has also previously come under fire over potential conflicts.
Last month, for instance, senior House Democrat Zoe Lofgren wrote a 10-page letter to the commerce secretary, accusing him of structuring a $1.58 billion investment in USA Rare Earth in a way that gives the government “highly concerning” leverage over the company while boosting Lutnick’s family-run investment firm, Cantor Fitzgerald.
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Lutnick was the firm’s chair until Trump handpicked the billionaire to join his administration. He has also pumped millions of dollars into Trump’s election campaign and his family is among the donors helping to fund the $400 million White House ballroom.
Like Trump, he was also a former associate of now deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and was recently forced to admit he visited his private island in 2012, four years after Epstein was first convicted.
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During his appearance on Friday, Lutnick also predicted that GDP could hit 6 percent by 2027, hit out at Canada’s trade negotiating strategy— “they suck,” he said—and boasted about how much money the government was making through deals such as the Intel agreement.
“You put a businessman in the White House, you put a businessman as secretary of commerce, you’re going to make money,” he said.
