Facing bipartisan criticism over his ties to Jeffrey Epstein, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick on Tuesday said that he had no personal relationship with Epstein but acknowledged visiting the late sex offender’s island while on a family vacation.
“I did not have any relationship with him. I barely had anything to do with that person, okay?” Lutnick said during a Senate Appropriations subcommittee hearing focused on broadband funding.
Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., the subcommittee’s ranking member, made clear in his opening statement that he wanted to question Lutnick about his ties to Epstein after his name appeared several times in newly released files by the Department of Justice. Lutnick has not been accused of wrongdoing in connection with Epstein but has faced criticism for not being more transparent about their interactions.
A growing number of Democrats have called on Lutnick resign from his Cabinet position as his relationship with Epstein comes under intense scrutiny. Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., who co-authored the bill to release the Justice Department’s Epstein files, also called on Lutnick to step down.
The White House on Monday defended Lutnick against the blowback. “President Trump has assembled the best and most transformative cabinet in modern history. The entire Trump administration, including Secretary Lutnick and the Department of Commerce, remains focused on delivering for the American people,” White House spokesman Kush Desai said.
“Mr. Secretary, 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,” Van Hollen said Tuesday.
Van Hollen recounted Lutnick previously describing his interactions with Epstein as limited. Lutnick said in a podcast interview last year that he first met Epstein in 2005 when they were neighbors and he was invited on a tour of Epstein’s apartment, during which the financier made an inappropriate comment.
Lutnick said he and his wife quickly excused themselves and left Epstein’s home. “And in the six to eight steps it takes to get from his house to my house, my wife and I decided that I will never be in the room with that disgusting person ever again.”“
“I was never in the room with him socially, for business, or even philanthropy,” he added. “If that guy was there, I wasn’t going ‘cause he’s gross. So I look back at it as a gift. He gave me a gift.”
But, Van Hollen, pressed, “the files show that you had interactions with Epstein over the next 13 years, including long after he was convicted in 2008 of soliciting the prostitution of a minor.”
Lutnick on Tuesday confirmed that he met Epstein when he moved to a house next door to him in New York. “I met him then,” Lutnick told lawmakers. “Over the next 14 years, I met him two other times that I can recall — two times.”
Asked by Van Hollen if he visited Epstein’s private island in the Caribbean in 2012, Lutnick said he had lunch with him on his island during a family vacation. “My wife was with me, as were my four children and nannies. I had another couple with, they were there as well, with their children, and we had lunch on the island — that is true — for an hour,” he said.
Lutnick said there was nothing “untoward” about the interaction. “I don’t recall why we did it, but we did it,” he said.
Responding to questions from Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., Lutnick said he met Epstein “three times over 14 years,” and added, “I have done absolutely nothing wrong in any possible regard.”
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
