Testimony and FBI records reopen Epstein questions for Lutnick, Trump
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick acknowledged under oath Tuesday that he and his family visited Jeffrey Epstein’s private island in 2012, contradicting his past public claims that he cut off contact with the convicted sex offender years earlier. His admission has intensified congressional scrutiny within the Trump administration as newly released Epstein records prompt renewed examination of past relationships and statements.
Lutnick confirmed the visit during a Senate Appropriations subcommittee hearing, saying the lunch on Epstein’s island took place during a family vacation, four years after Epstein pleaded guilty in Florida to soliciting prostitution, including one count involving a minor.
Lutnick concedes post-conviction contact
Under questioning from Democratic senators, Lutnick described the encounter as brief and denied having a meaningful relationship with Epstein. He told lawmakers their contact amounted to a small number of emails over more than a decade and said he had “barely anything to do” with Epstein beyond limited, intermittent interactions.
The testimony diverged from Lutnick’s earlier public account. In a 2025 podcast interview, he said a 2005 visit to Epstein’s home left him unsettled and led him to decide he would never again be in the room with Epstein, either socially or professionally. But documents released in the latest batch of Epstein files show contact continued after that point, including arrangements tied to the 2012 island visit.
“Did you, in fact, make the visit to Jeffrey Epstein’s private island?” Sen. Chris Van Hollen asked.
“I did have lunch with him as I was on a boat going across on a family vacation. My wife was with me, as were my four children and nannies,” Lutnick responded. “We were on family vacation, we were not apart. To suggest there was anything untoward about that in 2012. I don’t recall why we did it.”
Van Hollen said the issue wasn’t criminal conduct, but credibility. He argued that Lutnick’s prior statements left Congress and the public with a misleading understanding of the extent of his contact with Epstein after 2025.
New calls for resignation met White House resistance
Lutnick’s admission has now sparked calls for his resignation from both parties.
Rep. Thomas Massie, a Kentucky Republican who co-sponsored legislation compelling the release of the Epstein files, said over the weekend that Lutnick should step aside rather than extend the controversy for the administration.
“He should just resign,” Massie said in an interview on CNN. “I mean, there are three people in Great Britain that have resigned in politics. He’s got a lot to answer for, but really, he should make life easier on the president, frankly, and just resign.”
Democratic Sen. Jacky Rosen of Nevada is also calling on Lutnick to resign, making her the first member of the Senate Commerce Committee to do so, according to Axios.
Other lawmakers have stopped short of demanding his resignation but say Lutnick owes Congress a fuller accounting of his interactions with Epstein.
The White House, in the meantime, has closed ranks around him. Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Tuesday that he remains “a very important member” of President Donald Trump’s team and that the president fully supports him.
New reporting revisits Trump’s own account
As Lutnick faced questions on Capitol Hill, new reporting from the Miami Herald added another layer to the Epstein record involving Trump. The outlet reported that in July 2006, as Epstein’s abuse of teenage girls was coming under investigation in Palm Beach, Trump called then–police chief Michael Reiter to praise law enforcement efforts and said Epstein’s behavior was widely known.
That account appears in an FBI interview conducted in 2019 with Reiter and released as part of the recent Epstein files. According to the memo, Trump told Reiter, “Thank goodness you’re stopping him, everyone has known he’s been doing this.” Trump then urged police to focus on Epstein’s associate, Ghislaine Maxwell.
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But that account contradicts Trump’s later public statements. After Epstein’s federal arrest in 2019, Trump told reporters he had no knowledge that Epstein was abusing underage girls and said he had not spoken to him in years.
Asked about the reported 2006 call on Tuesday, Leavitt said she couldn’t confirm that it occurred.
“It was a phone call that may or may not have happened in 2006. I don’t know the answer to that question,” Leavitt told reporters. “What President Trump has always said is that he kicked Jeffrey Epstein out of his Mar-a-Lago club because Jeffrey Epstein was a creep. And that remains true. And this call, if it did happen, corroborates exactly what President Trump has said from the beginning.”
The Justice Department said in a statement to The New York Times that it isn’t aware of corroborating evidence beyond Reiter’s account. Reiter has confirmed he was interviewed by the FBI in 2019 and said the call with Trump took place during the early stages of the Palm Beach investigation.
Lawmakers reviewing the Epstein files have said additional testimony and document requests remain under consideration as Congress continues to examine the material released so far.
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Ella Rae Greene, Editor In Chief
