U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick disclosed multiple meetings with disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein during congressional testimony Tuesday.
Speaking before a Senate committee, Lutnick acknowledged several emails as well as meetings with the convicted sex offender, including a visit to Epstein's private island in 2012 with his family. He said they had lunch there. The admission appeared to contradict earlier statements.
Lutnick had said in a podcast last year that he decided in 2005 never to be in the same room again with Epstein, whom he called a "disgusting person." However, the newly acknowledged island visit took place in 2012, several years after Epstein's 2008 conviction.
Lutnick told senators that he had had little to do with Epstein. Before entering government, he had been Epstein's neighbor in New York.
Lawmakers also raised questions about a reference suggesting that Epstein wanted to meet Lutnick's nanny. Lutnick said he did not know what that was about and added that it "had nothing to do with me."
The commerce secretary has faced calls to step down over his contacts with Epstein. He is mentioned repeatedly in the recently unsealed Epstein files, though inclusion in the records does not in itself indicate wrongdoing.
U.S. President Donald Trump voiced support for his Cabinet member Tuesday. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters that Lutnick was "a very important member of President Trump's team and the president fully supports the secretary."
Epstein, who ran a long-running sexual abuse operation involving young women and minors, died by suicide in jail in 2019 while awaiting further prosecution.
