Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told Congress on Tuesday he visited Jeffrey Epstein’s private island in 2012 during a family vacation but said he had no actual relationship with the disgraced sex offender who died in 2019.
Mr. Lutnick said there were family members around during the visit, and he could not remember why they lunched there.
“My wife was with me, as were my four children and nannies. I had another couple with [us] — they were there as well, with their children, and we had lunch on the island, that is true, for an hour,” he told members of the Senate Appropriations Committee.
Mr. Lutnick’s testimony was notable because he previously said on a podcast that he cut off contact with Epstein after a 2005 visit to his apartment. Mr. Lutnick said Epstein, who was convicted of sex-related crimes in 2008, grossed him out.
Revelations in the FBI’s Epstein files showed interactions in the period after that, however, heaping pressure on the Cabinet member.
Mr. Lutnick has not been accused of any wrongdoing, and he described his brief meetings and emails with Epstein as a nothingburger.
“I did not have any relationship with him. I barely had anything to do with him,” Mr. Lutnick testified.
Rep. Thomas Massie, Kentucky Republican, and some Democrats have called on Mr. Lutnick to resign.
The White House is supporting Mr. Lutnick staying in his Cabinet post.
“Secretary Lutnick remains a very important member of President Trump’s team,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Tuesday. “The president fully supports the secretary.”
Sen. Chris Van Hollen, Maryland Democrat, said he would demand more documentation about contacts between Mr. Lutnick and Epstein, who died by suicide while incarcerated in 2019.
“There’s not an indication that you yourself engaged in any wrongdoing with Jeffrey Epstein,” Mr. Van Hollen told Mr. Lutnick. “It’s the fact that you believe that you misled the country and the Congress based on your earlier statements.”
Some British government officials have lost their jobs over contacts with Epstein, who was accused of trafficking and sexually abusing young women and girls as young as 14. Despite his guilty plea in Florida for soliciting prostitution from a minor, he continued to enjoy contacts with high-level people in government, academia and business.
Members of Congress are leading a push for the Department of Justice to facilitate the release of voluminous records and emails that detail Epstein’s interactions with high-profile figures.
President Trump appears in the files — they interacted in the Palm Beach community in Florida, where they were neighbors — but there has been no suggestion of wrongdoing on his part.
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.
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