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Howard Lutnick said he visited Jeffrey Epstein’s island with his family in late 2012 as the US commerce secretary was grilled at a Senate hearing by lawmakers on his contacts with the late sex offender.
Lutnick is facing mounting scrutiny over his ties to Epstein, after documents released by the Department of Justice revealed he had more extensive contacts with the financier than previously thought.
Lutnick last year described a 2005 encounter with Epstein that he said left him disgusted and determined never to set foot in the same room with him again.
But emails released in recent days by the DoJ showed the commerce secretary arranged to have lunch on Epstein’s island several years later — which Lutnick was forced to acknowledge.
“I did have lunch with him as I was on a boat going across on a family vacation,” Lutnick told members of the Senate appropriations committee. “My wife was with me as were my four children and nannies. I had another couple with their children. And we had lunch on the island. That is true. For an hour. And we left with all of my children.”
Epstein used the island as a base for alleged trafficking of underage girls. He spent 13 months in a Florida jail starting in 2008 for soliciting sex from a minor and was rearrested in July 2019 and charged with sex trafficking of minors.
Lutnick’s concession that he visited the island comes amid widening scrutiny into Epstein’s relationship with politicians including US presidents Donald Trump and Bill Clinton, UK Labour figure Peter Mandelson and business leaders such as former Barclays chief executive Jes Staley, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, Tesla’s Elon Musk and Goldman Sachs lawyer Kathy Ruemmler.
Karoline Leavitt, White House press secretary, on Tuesday said Trump “fully supports” Lutnick, describing him as a “very important” member of the president’s team.
The White House had earlier rejected calls for the commerce secretary to step down over his connections to Epstein. Trump has referred to the scandal as a “hoax”.
During Tuesday’s congressional hearing, Lutnick faced biting criticism from some lawmakers, adding to pressure on the commerce secretary who has faced calls to step down from one Republican, Thomas Massie of Kentucky, and several Democrats.
“The issue is not that you engaged in any wrongdoing in connection with Jeffrey Epstein, but that you totally misrepresented the extent of your relationship with him,” said Chris Van Hollen, the Democratic senator from Maryland. “Mr Secretary, that does call into question your fitness for the job you now hold, and the question of your credibility before this committee and the Congress.”
Chris Coons, a Democratic senator from Delaware, said it “troubles me that you took your family to lunch on his island, that you had appointment with him”, as he demanded Lutnick be more transparent about his ties to Epstein.
“Please disclose everything. Put this to rest, because this is an issue of grave concern to my constituents,” Coons said.
Lutnick responded that “to the best of my memory” he had met Epstein when he became his neighbour in New York City and “two other times in 14 years”.
“I did not have anything you could call a relationship, anything you could call an acquaintance,” Lutnick said. “I didn’t look through the documents with any fear whatsoever, because I know and my wife knows that I have done absolutely nothing wrong in any possible regard.”
However, the released documents revealed additional business connections between Lutnick and the late sex offender.
A stock purchase agreement from late 2012 showed the two men signed a document for separate entities to acquire stakes in Adfin, a defunct advertising technology company. Lutnick also sent Epstein an email in May 2018 about a proposed building project in their neighbourhood.
