US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick acknowledged Tuesday that he attended a lunch on Jeffrey Epstein’s private island in 2012, while denying any ongoing relationship with the convicted sex offender amid mounting calls for his resignation.

Appearing before the Senate Appropriations Committee, Lutnick said he visited the island with his wife, children, and nannies as part of a family vacation. “Over a 14-year period, I did not have any relationship with him. I barely had anything to do with that person,” he said. Lutnick added that he did not witness any inappropriate conduct and that his interactions were limited to Epstein’s staff and another family present at the time.

The disclosure follows the release of emails that appear to contradict Lutnick’s earlier claims that he had severed ties with Epstein in 2005. Some records indicate that the two became investors in a firm after the 2012 visit, although Lutnick insisted there was no direct engagement between them.

Bipartisan criticism intensifies

The confirmation has prompted criticism from lawmakers across party lines. Democratic Senator Adam Schiff said Lutnick “has no business being our commerce secretary,” while Republican Representative Thomas Massie called for his resignation.

Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, said the revelations raise “serious concerns about his judgment and ethics.”

The White House voiced its support for Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick, dismissing growing calls for his resignation following the release of files linking him to disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein.

Speaking on Monday, White House spokesperson Kush Desai stated that Lutnick would continue to serve in his current role despite bipartisan criticism.

"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," Desai said.

DOJ releases millions of Epstein files, Trump accused of raping minor

On January 31, the United States Justice Department released millions of additional records from its investigative files on Jeffrey Epstein, expanding disclosures under a law designed to reveal what the government knew about the disgraced financier’s sexual abuse of underage girls and his connections with wealthy and powerful figures.

At the time, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said that the department had posted more than three million pages of documents, alongside over 2,000 videos and some 180,000 images, marking the largest disclosure to date under the Epstein Files Transparency Act. The newly released files include material withheld from an initial disclosure in December, which lawmakers had criticized as incomplete, The Associated Press reported.

Scope of the latest disclosure

Blanche said the release followed an extensive review process aimed at ensuring transparency while protecting victims’ identities and avoiding harm to any ongoing investigations. The total volume of records reviewed reached roughly six million pages, including duplicates, after additional materials were discovered following the first release.

“Today’s release marks the end of a very comprehensive document identification and review process,” Blanche said at a news conference.

However, the Justice Department missed a December 19 deadline set by Congress to release all records.

High-profile names in the files

The newly disclosed documents include references to several of Epstein’s well-known associates. Records mention Britain’s Prince Andrew, whose name appears hundreds of times in email correspondence, guest lists, and news clippings. Some files document efforts by New York prosecutors to interview the former prince as part of their sex trafficking investigation.

The documents also include email exchanges between Epstein and billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk from 2012 and 2013, discussing potential visits to Epstein’s private Caribbean island, Little Saint James. It remains unclear whether those visits ever occurred. Musk has repeatedly claimed he refused to visit the island.

Hundreds of text messages between Epstein and Steve Bannon, a conservative activist and former White House strategist during Donald Trump’s first term, also appear in the release. The messages show friendly exchanges and discussions of potential meetings and travel arrangements.

Other records reference Howard Lutnick, now serving as US commerce secretary, including invitations to Epstein’s island and social meetings in earlier years.

Trump accused of raping a minor

The disclosure comes amid continued scrutiny of Epstein’s associations with US political figures, including US President Donald Trump and former President Bill Clinton. Previously released materials included flight logs showing Trump flew on Epstein’s private jet in the 1990s, before the two fell out, and photographs of Clinton. Neither man has been accused of wrongdoing in connection with Epstein, and both have said they were unaware of his abuse of underage girls.

Blanche rejected claims that the Justice Department sought to shield Trump from embarrassment, saying, “We did not protect President Trump. We didn’t protect — or not protect — anybody.” 

Among the newly released materials are records that reference allegations and interactions linked to Trump. The disclosure includes an FBI document summarizing a complaint from a woman identified as “Jane Doe", who accused Trump of raping her in 1994 when she was 13 years old. These claims remain unverified.

Additional records include internal emails from 2020 in which a prosecutor noted that Trump flew on Epstein’s private jet at least eight times between 1993 and 1996, more frequently than previously reported. The correspondence indicates that Ghislaine Maxwell was present on at least four of those flights.

The document dump also contains private emails from 2011 showing Epstein and Maxwell discussing how to respond to allegations by a victim who claimed she worked at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort while underage. In one exchange, Maxwell reminded Epstein that he had previously said “not to involve Donald”.

Separate emails from 2018 reveal Epstein making disparaging remarks about Trump in private correspondence, mocking him with derogatory nicknames, and questioning his wealth.

The Epstein case

Epstein was found dead in a New York jail cell in August 2019, a month after being indicted on federal sex trafficking charges. He had previously served jail time in Florida in 2008 and 2009 after pleading guilty to soliciting prostitution from a minor, under a controversial deal that spared him from federal prosecution at the time.

In 2021, Epstein’s longtime associate Ghislaine Maxwell was convicted in New York of sex trafficking for helping recruit underage victims and was sentenced to 20 years in prison. US prosecutors have not charged anyone else in connection with Epstein’s abuse, though victims, including Virginia Roberts Giuffre, accused several prominent figures of involvement, allegations they denied. Giuffre died by suicide last year at the age of 41.

Source:Websites