US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has confirmed that he visited Jeffrey Epstein’s private island in 2012, contradicting earlier statements that he had cut ties with the disgraced financier years before his conviction.
Testifying on Capitol Hill on Tuesday, Lutnick said he had lunch with Epstein while passing through the island during a family trip. “I did have lunch with him as I was on a boat going across on a family vacation,” he said. “My wife was with me, as were my four children and nannies. We had lunch on the island. That is true. For an hour.”
Details of the visit appear in documents released by the US Department of Justice as part of the latest batch of Epstein-related files. The White House said on Tuesday that Lutnick continues to have the full support of President Donald Trump, despite growing calls from some lawmakers for his resignation.
Previously, Lutnick had told Congress that he ended his relationship with Epstein in 2005, after the financier — then a neighbour of his in New York — made a sexually suggestive remark about a massage table in his home. However, during Tuesday’s testimony, Lutnick said that over the next 14 years, he met Epstein “two other times” that he could recall.
Justice Department records show that Lutnick visited Epstein’s Caribbean island on 23 December 2012, four years after Epstein was convicted of soliciting prostitution from a minor. Tuesday’s appearance marked the first time Lutnick publicly acknowledged that visit.
“I don’t recall why we did it, but we did it,” he said, referring to the lunch. He stressed that he has not been accused of any wrongdoing connected to Epstein.
Lutnick said the only other meeting he remembered, aside from the island visit, was an hour-long meeting about a year and a half later. He added that out of millions of pages of Epstein-related material released by the Justice Department, only about 10 emails mention him.
“Over a 14-year period, I did not have any relationship with him. I barely had anything to do with that person,” he said.
During the hearing, Senator Chris Van Hollen of Maryland challenged Lutnick over what he described as conflicting accounts. He said the concern was not criminal conduct, but that Lutnick had “totally misrepresented the extent of your relationship” with Epstein to Congress, the public and survivors of Epstein’s abuse.
Lutnick is one of several high-profile figures named in more than 3.5 million Epstein-related documents released by the Justice Department under a law passed last year. The confirmation of his island visit has sparked bipartisan calls for him to step down.
Democratic Congressman Ro Khanna and Republican Congressman Thomas Massie, who co-sponsored the legislation mandating the release of the files, have both urged Lutnick to resign. They are also pushing for further disclosures. After reviewing unredacted records, Khanna said on Tuesday that he had identified six additional names that he believes were wrongly redacted. Massie said those individuals were “likely incriminated by their inclusion in these files”.
Meanwhile, as Lutnick testified on Capitol Hill, survivors of Epstein’s abuse gathered nearby to support new legislation known as Virginia’s Law. The proposed law would remove time limits for survivors of sexual abuse to bring civil claims.
The bill is named after Virginia Giuffre, one of the most prominent survivors of Epstein’s abuse, who died by suicide in 2025. Speaking at the event, her sister-in-law, Amanda Roberts, said the goal was to end statutes of limitation that block survivors from seeking justice.
“No more laws that treat survivors as though time can erase harm,” she said. “Pass Virginia’s Law.”
