Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said Tuesday that he did meet with Jeffrey Epstein after the financier’s sex-crime conviction, confirming information outlined in recently released Justice Department documents and placing him under renewed scrutiny on Capitol Hill.
Lutnick told lawmakers that the encounter occurred during travel in the Caribbean aboard a boat and emphasized that his family, his wife and children, were present at the time. He characterized the interaction as limited, stressing that his contact with Epstein was minimal.
Appearing before a Senate Appropriations subcommittee, Lutnick pushed back against suggestions that he had concealed anything, telling Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) that he had nothing to hide and insisting his actions were fully transparent.
Van Hollen, the ranking Democrat on the panel, sharply challenged that assertion. He cited Justice Department records indicating that Lutnick maintained contact with Epstein even after Epstein’s 2008 conviction for soliciting a minor for prostitution. Those records directly conflict with Lutnick’s earlier public statements, including comments made on a podcast, in which he said he had ended the relationship years earlier.
Van Hollen accused Lutnick of misleading Congress, the public, and survivors of Epstein’s crimes about the true extent of their association, while also noting that there is no evidence linking Lutnick to any criminal conduct involving Epstein.
The questioning extended beyond Van Hollen. Democratic Sens. Chris Coons of Delaware and Jeff Merkley of Oregon also pressed Lutnick for details about his past interactions with Epstein, urging fuller disclosure but stopping short of alleging wrongdoing.
Trump and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick
Coons took issue with Lutnick’s suggestion that reviewing one’s name in the Epstein files was routine, arguing that most people are not concerned about appearing in such documents. He called on the commerce secretary to fully disclose any information relevant to his relationship with Epstein.
Merkley pointed to eight instances identified in Justice Department materials that suggest Lutnick had contact with Epstein after 2005, despite Lutnick’s previous claim that ties were severed by that time. Merkley said those prior statements appeared incomplete and urged Lutnick to correct the record and be fully forthcoming.
The controversy has sparked bipartisan calls for Lutnick’s resignation after his name surfaced in the latest batch of Epstein-related files. Lutnick addressed the issue during Tuesday’s appropriations hearing, which was otherwise focused on Commerce Department broadband funding.
The White House has not commented directly on Lutnick’s appearance in the documents but has publicly defended President Donald Trump’s cabinet appointments.
Separately, Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) said in a statement Monday that Lutnick had been untruthful about the scope of his ties to Epstein. Lutnick has continued to downplay the relationship.
The Justice Department’s recent disclosures have had international repercussions as well, fueling political fallout in Europe and contributing to resignations in countries including Norway and the United Kingdom. Epstein died by suicide in 2019.
Republicans initially avoided questioning Lutnick on the matter. Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.), who chairs the subcommittee, focused his remarks on problems surrounding a federal broadband infrastructure program.
Still, Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) indicated that scrutiny was inevitable for anyone named in the files, saying public officials must be prepared to answer questions if their names appear in or are referenced by the documents.
