The Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee announced on Jan. 23 that it will hold its hearing on the nomination of Howard Lutnick to be secretary of commerce on Jan. 29.
“Howard Lutnick is an excellent choice to lead the Department of Commerce, and his vast experience will serve him well in his mission to promote America’s unlimited entrepreneurial spirit,” the committee’s chairman, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), said in a statement.
“Mr. Lutnick will play a key role in unleashing unprecedented innovation and ensuring our nation’s job creators are well equipped to expand opportunities for good-paying jobs,” he said.
As Jackson Richman reports for The Epoch Times, Lutnick supports President Donald Trump’s tariff agenda and has called tariffs “a bargaining chip.”
“I think we should put tariffs on stuff we make and not on stuff we don’t make,” he told CNBC in September, adding the United States should impose reciprocal tariffs on countries.
In his statement announcing Lutnick as his nominee for commerce secretary, Trump touted that Lutnick “has created the most sophisticated process and system to assist us in creating the greatest administration America has ever seen.”
Lutnick is a proponent of broad tariffs.
“You’ve got to tariff the rest of the world. Keep them ... out. Bring the manufacturing back here,” he said on Anthony Pompliano’s podcast in October 2024.
“Everybody else is going to negotiate with us.”
The big showdown in the hearing is likely to come from none other than crypto-nemesis Senator Elizabeth Warren who has already pressed US President Donald Trump’s Commerce Secretary pick, Cantor Fitzgerald CEO Howard Lutnick, over his investment firm’s connection with stablecoin issuer Tether.
As CoinTelegraph's Stephen Katte reports, in a Jan. 27 letter, Warren said she has “serious concern” about Lutnick’s “deep involvement with and support for Tether, a known facilitator of criminal activity that has been described as ‘outlaws’ favorite cryptocurrency.’”
“While you have agreed to divest your interest in Cantor Fitzgerald, which holds a 5% stake in Tether, and serves as Tether’s asset manager, this divestment does not end the questions about your deep personal ties to the company or its affiliates,” wrote Warren, the top Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee.
She said she still questions his “ability to put the interests of the American people” ahead of personal financial interests if he’s confirmed as the Secretary of the Department of Commerce.
According to Warren, if Lutnick is confirmed in his hearing on Jan. 29, he will have “extraordinary access” to President Trump and other officials responsible for regulating Tether.
Warren asked Lutnick a list of questions, including around his current financial stake in Tether, which she wants answered by Feb. 10. Source: Elizabeth Warren
She claims this will put him in “a position to influence policies that may directly or indirectly impact Tether and the entire cryptocurrency industry.”
Lutnick, a billionaire, was a co-chair of the Trump transition following the election, though he was named to the role before Nov. 5.
He was a major fundraiser for Trump in the 2020 and 2024 election cycles.
Lutnick is the chairman and CEO of financial services firms Cantor Fitzgerald and BGC Group.
He came to prominence after 9/11, as Cantor Fitzgerald’s office was located in one of the Twin Towers.
All of the company’s employees who were in the office that day lost their lives.
Lutnick survived because he was dropping off his sons for their first days of pre-school and kindergarten.
Watch the hearing live here (due to start at 1000ET):