US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick disclosed several meetings with the financier before Congress when dealing with the case involving sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
02/11/2026, 05:0302/11/2026, 05:03
Before a Senate committee in the US Parliament, he admitted several emails and meetings, including a visit with his family to Epstein’s private island in 2012. There he had lunch with Epstein. Lutnick thereby indirectly contradicted earlier statements.
Howard Lutnick wasn’t honest about his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein.Image: keystone
Last year he said in a podcast about Epstein that he had already decided in 2005 that he never wanted to be in the same room with this “disgusting person” again. According to current information, the now admitted visit to Epstein’s island took place in 2012, and therefore several years after Epstein’s conviction in 2008.
Lutnick said in the Senate that he had little to do with Epstein. The minister used to be Epstein’s neighbor in New York. One question also revolves around a suggestion that Epstein wanted to get to know Lutnick’s nanny. Lutnick said he had no idea what it was about.
«That had nothing to do with me. As far as I know.”
Lutnick’s resignation demanded
Lutnick faces calls to resign over his contact with Epstein. US President Donald Trump’s Commerce Secretary appears several times in the extensive files on the Epstein case. Trump supported his minister on Tuesday (local time). When asked by journalists, government spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said the trade minister was a very important member of Trump’s team. The president has full support for him.
Many celebrities in investigation files
The US multimillionaire Epstein ran an abuse ring from New York for years, to which many young women and minors fell victim. The convicted sex offender died in custody in 2019 at the age of 66, before any further sentencing could have taken place. Numerous celebrities and politicians appear in the published investigation files. However, a mention in itself does not initially mean anything. (sda/dpa)