Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick faced the U.S. Senate on Tuesday as senators questioned his connection to financier Jeffrey Epstein amid calls for his firing or resignation.
Recently released emails from Epstein suggest the two last met in 2012. Lutnick had previously claimed he had not seen Epstein since 2005, three years before Epstein’s 2008 conviction on child prostitution charges.
A 2012 email from Epstein to Lutnick said, “Nice seeing you,” suggesting the two had met.
At a hearing of the Senate Appropriations subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies, Lutnick confirmed he had been on a boat with Epstein in 2012. He said he was not sure “why we did it,” but insisted there was nothing untoward about the meeting. Lutnick has not been accused of any crimes.
The hearing was scheduled to discuss funding for White House broadband initiatives.
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“I did have lunch with him as I was on a boat going across on a family vacation,” Lutnick said. “My wife was with me, as were my four children and nannies. I had another couple with their children. We had lunch on the island. That is true.”
Lutnick said he first met Epstein after moving into a home next door. Over the next 14 years, he said, he could recall only two additional meetings.
“I didn’t have any relationship with him. I barely had anything to do with that person, okay?” Lutnick said.
When asked whether he saw anything inappropriate during the visit to Epstein’s private island, Lutnick said, “The only thing I saw, with my wife and my children and the other couple and their children, was staff who worked for Mr. Epstein on that island.”
While Democrats have called for Lutnick to step down, Rep. Thomas Massie has been among the few Republicans to openly call for his resignation. Massie was one of the first Republicans to push for the full release of the Epstein files, telling CNN, “He’s got a lot to answer for.”
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“He should just resign,” Massie said on CNN’s Inside Politics Sunday. “Howard Lutnick clearly went to the island if we believe what’s in these files.”
