Commerce Secretary acknowledged on Tuesday that he and his family had been to the private island of the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein in 2012, even though he had previously stated he severed connections with Epstein years prior.
“My wife accompanied me, along with our four children and their nannies. Another couple, also with their children, joined us, and we had lunch on the island,” Lutnick stated during a Senate Appropriations subcommittee hearing. He mentioned that his family was on holiday and remained on the island for approximately an hour before departing.
Lutnick’s remarks follow calls for his resignation from legislators across the political spectrum, prompted by the Justice Department’s release of Epstein-related records, which indicated the Commerce Secretary’s association with the disgraced financier was more substantial than previously disclosed.
On Tuesday, Lutnick stated he had searched for his name within the Justice Department’s publicly released files, finding “approximately 10 emails” linking him to Epstein amidst the over three million pages in the recent disclosure.
“I reviewed the documents without any apprehension, as both my wife and I are aware that I have committed absolutely no wrongdoing in any respect,” he asserted during the hearing.
“I had no relationship with him. I had very little involvement with that individual. Understood?” Lutnick declared. When questioned by Democratic Sen. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, Lutnick responded, “I have nothing to conceal. Absolutely nothing.”
The Commerce Secretary, formerly Epstein’s neighbor in Manhattan’s Upper East Side, stated during a “Pod Force One” podcast appearance last year that he “never encountered” Epstein “socially, professionally, or philanthropically” after a 2005 visit to the financier’s townhouse, which left Lutnick feeling he was “repugnant.”
However, the Justice Department’s files, released late last month, included communications between Lutnick and Epstein covering at least 13 years, as reported by a New York Times article. Several exchanges between the two men or their aides suggested that Epstein and Lutnick interacted socially in New York and on Epstein’s Caribbean island years after Lutnick claimed to have ended their association in 2005, and subsequent to Epstein’s 2008 conviction for soliciting prostitution involving a minor.
“You completely mischaracterized the scope of your relationship with him to Congress, to the American public, and to the victims of his heinous criminal and predatory actions,” Van Hollen told Lutnick on Tuesday. The Commerce Secretary was also interrogated about his ties to Epstein by Democratic Senators Chris Coons of Delaware and Jeff Merkley of Oregon. While none of the Senators accused Lutnick of misconduct, they advocated for increased openness regarding his connection to the deceased sex offender.
Merkley implored Lutnick to “be entirely candid and transparent with everyone” and “amend the record as necessary” while presenting several documents from the Justice Department’s public release that indicated Lutnick’s interactions with Epstein post-2005.
Emails contained in the recent file release seem to indicate Lutnick’s arrangements for a December 2012 visit to Epstein’s island, Little St. James, located near St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Further communications reveal that this visit was one of several interactions between Lutnick and Epstein throughout the years, suggesting they intended to meet for drinks in May 2011 and that Lutnick extended an invitation to Epstein for a “very intimate fundraising event with Hilary Clinton” in November 2015, among other evident personal and professional engagements.
Subsequent to reports detailing the communications between Lutnick and Epstein in the disclosed files, multiple lawmakers urged the Commerce Secretary to resign. These included Republican Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, who co-authored the legislation requiring the release of all government files pertaining to Epstein; Democratic Sen. Adam Schiff of California; and Democratic Rep. Robert Garcia, also from California.
“Honestly, he should simplify things for the President and simply step down,” Massie remarked on Sunday.
“Secretary Howard Lutnick misled the nation regarding his connections to Epstein. We now know they were business associates. He is unfit to serve as our Commerce Secretary. He ought to resign,” Schiff posted on X the next day.
Garcia went further, advocating for Lutnick’s dismissal if he failed to resign.
In a Monday statement to TIME, a Commerce Department spokesperson asserted, “This is merely a futile effort by traditional media to divert attention from the administration’s achievements, such as attracting trillions of dollars in investment, finalizing landmark trade agreements, and advocating for American workers. Mr. and Mrs. Lutnick encountered Jeffrey Epstein in 2005 and maintained very restricted contact with him over the subsequent 14 years.”
