US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has confirmed he visited Jeffrey Epstein's island in 2012, contradicting previous claims that he had cut ties with the sex offender years earlier, before he was convicted.
I did have lunch with him as I was on a boat going across on a family vacation, Lutnick testified on Capitol Hill on Tuesday. My wife was with me, as were my four children and nannies … We had lunch on the island. That is true. For an hour.
Correspondence about the visit was included in Epstein documents released by the US Department of Justice. Some lawmakers have called on Lutnick to resign, but on Tuesday the White House said he had the full support of President Donald Trump.
The commerce secretary had previously told Congress that he cut ties with Epstein in 2005 after the late financier - a neighbor of Lutnick's in New York - used sexual innuendo to explain why he owned a massage table in a room of his home.
In Tuesday's testimony, he said: Over the next 14 years, I met him two other times that I can recall. The justice department files show Lutnick visited Epstein's Caribbean island on 23 December 2012, four years after Epstein was convicted for soliciting prostitution from a child. Lutnick's testimony marked the first time he publicly confirmed the visit.
I don't recall why we did it, but we did it, he said Tuesday, referring to the lunch. Lutnick has not been accused of any wrongdoing in relation to Epstein.
Senator Chris Van Hollen, a Democrat from Maryland, grilled Lutnick about the conflicting accounts, stating: The issue is not that you engaged in any wrongdoing in connection with Jeffrey Epstein, but that you totally misrepresented the extent of your relationship with him, to the congress, to the American people and to the survivors of his despicable criminal and predatory acts.
Lutnick is among a series of high profile individuals named in over 3.5 million documents released by the Justice Department, further revealing the extent of his connections to Epstein.
The revelation has led to bipartisan calls for his resignation, with Democratic Congressman Ro Khanna and Republican Congressman Thomas Massie urging Lutnick to step down. They continue to seek further disclosures from the released files.
While Lutnick was testifying, survivors of Epstein's abuse gathered nearby on Capitol Hill to announce Virginia's Law, aimed at removing the statute of limitations for sexual abuse survivors to file civil claims. This is named after Virginia Giuffre, a prominent survivor of Epstein's abuse who tragically passed away in 2025.
