Lutnick Confirms Jeffrey Epstein Lunch As Scrutiny Intensifies

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick on Tuesday said he had lunch with Jeffrey Epstein, even after Epstein was convicted of sex crimes, confirming documents released by the Justice Department.

Lutnick said the two met while traveling through the Caribbean on a boat, and that the interaction occurred when he was with his wife and children. He said he “barely had anything to do” with Epstein.

“I have nothing to hide,” Lutnick said on Tuesday in response to questions from Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) at a Senate Appropriations subcommittee hearing. “Absolutely nothing.”

Lutnick faced intense criticism from Van Hollen, the ranking Democrat on the subcommittee, after recent files released by the Justice Department show he continued to associate with Epstein, even after the New York financier was convicted of soliciting a minor for prostitution in 2008. Lutnick previously claimed on a podcast that he cut off ties years earlier.

“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 told Lutnick, though he added that there is no indication that Lutnick engaged in any wrongdoing with Epstein.

In the hearing, Lutnick also faced pointed questions from Democratic Sens. Chris Coons (Del.) and Jeff Merkley (Ore.) over his ties to Epstein. Both pushed him for transparency about his relationship with the financier, but stopped short of accusing Lutnick of wrongdoing.

“You said casually, ‘Oh I looked at my name and how it appeared in them, as does everyone,’” said Coons. “No. Everyone isn’t worried about their names being in the Epstein files.” Coons urged Lutnick to “disclose everything that is relevant here.”

Merkley laid out eight instances where DOJ documents suggest Lutnick interacted with Epstein after 2005, when the Commerce secretary had previously claimed he cut off contact with Epstein. “That was probably not a full and complete accounting,” said Merkley, who also urged Lutnick to “be completely frank and open with everyone [and] correct the record as needed.”

Lutnick has faced bipartisan calls to resign after he appeared in a recent batch of files linked to Epstein. He responded Tuesday to lawmaker questions at a hearing with Senate appropriators on Commerce Department broadband funding.

The White House has not directly responded to Lutnick’s involvement in the Epstein files, but has defended Trump’s cabinet picks.

Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) accused Lutnick in a statement Monday of having “lied” about the extent of his connection to Epstein. Lutnick has sought to downplay their relationship.

Fresh releases from the DOJ have roiled European politics and forced the departure of politicians including in Norway and the United Kingdom. Epstein died by suicide in 2019.

Republicans initially held back from questioning Lutnick over his ties to Epstein. Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.), the chairman of the subcommittee, stuck to questions about a troubled federal program that sought to build infrastructure for broadband internet.

But Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) said he believed Lutnick would face scrutiny for his appearance in the files.

"Transparency is something we all ought to aspire to here and if there are folks who are named in there, or discussed in there in some way, they are going to have to answer to that," Thune said.

Jordain Carney contributing reporting.