Epstein Files Reveal Commerce Secretary's Closer Ties to Convicted Sex Offender

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick's account of a brief, uncomfortable encounter with Jeffrey Epstein in 2005 has unraveled under the weight of more than three million Justice Department documents released in January, records that reference Lutnick 223 times and map a relationship spanning at least 13 years, well past Epstein's 2008 guilty plea in Florida for soliciting prostitution from a minor.

The documents show that over the course of at least 13 years, the men corresponded regularly and appear to have socialized together in New York and the Caribbean, contradicting Lutnick's earlier claims. Lutnick had said in an interview that he "was never in the room" with Epstein other than that 2005 visit to his apartment. But the newly released files told a starkly different story, one that has since prompted bipartisan calls for his resignation and a scheduled appearance before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on May 6.

During Senate Appropriations testimony on February 10, Lutnick acknowledged that he and his family had lunch with Epstein in December 2012 on Epstein's private Caribbean island, a meal that came more than four years after Epstein had served 13 months in jail. That admission, dragged out under congressional questioning, directly contradicted what Lutnick had previously told the public. Lawmakers hammered Lutnick over the Epstein files showing the two having ties long after Lutnick claimed he'd cut them, and the Senate hearing was his first appearance before Congress after the troves of records were released.

The Justice Department records further showed that Lutnick met and communicated with Epstein for years after the reported 2005 encounter, with contact documented as recently as 2018, nearly a decade after Epstein's conviction. A photograph said to show Lutnick alongside Epstein on the late financier's private island was briefly removed from the Justice Department's website, prompting fresh alarm from members of Congress. A Justice Department spokesperson said the image was part of a batch of files flagged for nudity that was pulled for review and would be uploaded with necessary redactions on a rolling basis, adding that no files were being deleted.

Republican Rep. Thomas Massie, a co-author of the Epstein Files Transparency Act that compelled the document release, did not accept that explanation quietly. Massie said the Justice Department should explain the decision-making behind the removal: "I'm sure there's a good reason for this. DOJ needs to tell Congress who pulled this file down so we can ask them." Massie went further, saying on CNN that Lutnick "clearly went to the island if we believe what's in these files; he was in business with Jeffrey Epstein, and this was many years after Jeffrey Epstein was convicted," and calling on Lutnick to resign.

Democratic Rep. Robert Garcia, the ranking member on the House Oversight Committee, wrote that "it's now clear that Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has been lying about his relationship with Epstein," adding: "Lutnick must resign or be fired. And he must answer our questions." Democratic Sen. Adam Schiff of California accused Lutnick of lying to the country and said the two men had been in business together, calling for his immediate resignation.

Lutnick agreed to sit for a voluntary transcribed interview with the House Oversight Committee on May 6, with three sources confirming the arrangement. Lutnick told Axios: "I look forward to appearing before the committee. I have done nothing wrong and I want to set the record straight." The White House has so far resisted calls to remove him. White House spokesman Kush Desai said that Lutnick "continues to be a critical asset for President Trump, having played a key role in securing major trade and investment deals."

The episode has exposed a broader gap in how the executive branch handles conflicts of interest when a sitting cabinet official's undisclosed associations surface through law enforcement files rather than through voluntary disclosure. The records demonstrated that Lutnick maintained a personal and business relationship with Epstein for more than a decade after the financier's 2008 guilty plea, a period that overlapped with Lutnick's leadership of major financial firm Cantor Fitzgerald. Neither the Senate confirmation process nor any public disclosure requirement surfaced those ties before the DOJ document release forced them into view. The May 6 interview will test whether congressional oversight can fill the accountability gap that nomination vetting left open.