Sec. Howard Lutnick Admits Epstein Island Visit as Lawmakers Review FBI Files

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick acknowledged Tuesday that he visited Jeffrey Epstein’s private island in 2012, telling senators he had two encounters “that I can recall” with the disgraced financier after previously claiming he cut off contact in 2005, as reported by The New York Post.

Lutnick, 64, testified before a Senate subcommittee that he stopped at the island for about an hour while on a family vacation.

“We had lunch on the island, that is true, for an hour,” Lutnick said. “We left with all of my children, with my nannies and my wife. All together. We were on a family vacation. We were not apart… I don’t recall why we did it, but we did.”

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The admission came after the FBI’s Jan. 30 release of case files documenting a 2012 visit and a May 2011 meeting. Lutnick confirmed the additional 2011 encounter during his testimony.

“I met Jeffrey Epstein when I moved to a house next door to him in New York. Over the next 14 years, I met him two other times that I can recall — two times — and that is none for six years,” Lutnick said.

“I looked through the millions of documents for my name, just like everybody else. And what I found was there was a document that said I had a meeting with him in May, I think, for an hour at 5 o’clock,” he added.

Lutnick previously told The Post in October that he severed ties with Epstein after touring his Upper East Side townhouse in 2005.

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In that interview, he said he and his wife Allison, were so disturbed by the visit that he “decided that I will never be in the room with that disgusting person ever again.”

He also described Epstein as “the greatest blackmailer ever” and said, “That’s how he had money.”

Epstein pleaded guilty in 2008 in Florida to soliciting prostitution from a minor and later faced federal charges in 2019.

Pressed by senators about emails suggesting potential business, philanthropic, or neighborhood interactions, Lutnick minimized the extent of contact.

“There may be 10 emails connecting me with him — probably about 10 emails connecting me with him over a 14-year period,” he said.

“I did not have any relationship with him. I barely had anything to do with that person. Okay?”

Lutnick said he was unaware of the reason Epstein sought a meeting with one of his nannies, as reflected in documents included in the FBI release.

Calls for Lutnick’s resignation have followed, including from Reps. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) and Robert Garcia (D-Calif.).

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt criticized the continued focus on the Epstein case during a Tuesday briefing.

“This week, national median rents have fallen to a four-year low [and] mortgage affordability this week surged to a four-year high, but not a single mention of that in this briefing room today,” Leavitt said.

“For an unprecedented ninth straight month, there were zero illegal border crossings at the southern border.”

Leavitt added that “Secretary Lutnick remains a very important member of President Trump’s team, and the president fully supports the secretary.”

In President Trump’s first term, then-Labor Secretary Alex Acosta resigned in 2019 following scrutiny of his role in brokering Epstein’s 2008 plea deal.

The FBI’s document release has led members of Congress to review unredacted files at the Justice Department. Reps. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) and Massie said Monday that six associates of Epstein were “likely incriminated” by their inclusion in investigative files.

Khanna read names on the House floor Tuesday, including Les Wexner, Sultan Ahmed bin Saleem, Salvatore Nuara, Zurab Mikeladze, Leonic Leonov, and Nicola Caputo.

Massie previously claimed the FBI is aware of 20 powerful men who allegedly victimized young women and girls, naming Barclays CEO Jes Staley, who later resigned.

Separate revelations included a 2019 FBI file quoting a former Palm Beach, Fla., police chief recalling that President Donald Trump called him in 2006 to encourage him to look into “evil” Ghislaine Maxwell.

“I’m sure many of you, when you read that, that alleged FBI report, probably thought to yourself, ‘Wow, this really cracks our narrative that we’ve been trying to push about this president for many years,’” Leavitt said.

President Trump has described Democratic interest in the Epstein case as a “hoax,” while Republicans have pointed to former President Bill Clinton’s own ties to Epstein.

Public scrutiny has continued as lawmakers review thousands of pages of documents related to the long-running investigation.

Epstein associate Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, brother of King Charles III, has faced reputational fallout, while British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has drawn criticism over his appointment of Peter Mandelson as ambassador to the United States amid scrutiny of Mandelson’s past connections to Epstein.

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