Chris Van Hollen, Chris Coons Press Howard Lutnick About New Epstein Files Revelations

Democratic Sens. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland and Chris Coons of Delaware pressed Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick on Tuesday about his past interactions with sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.

Files recently released by the Department of Justice (DOJ) showed that Lutnick remained in contact with Epstein as recently as 2018, years after Epstein pleaded guilty to sex crimes. After Van Hollen asked Lutnick to explain why he coordinated a meeting with Epstein on his private island in 2012, the commerce secretary stated during a Senate Commerce Committee hearing that he only met with Epstein a few times and had very little involvement with him even when they were neighbors in New York City.

“Why did the Epstein files show you coordinating a meeting and planning a visit with Jeffrey Epstein on his private island in December 2012?” Van Hollen asked. 

“Thank you for the question. I’m glad to be here to make it clear that I met Jeffrey Epstein when he moved, when I moved to a house next door to him in New York,” Lutnick said. “And I met him then. Over the next 14 years, I met him two other times that I can recall. Two times, and that is none for six years. So six years later, I met him. And then a year and a half after that, I met him and never again. Probably the total, and you’ve seen all of these documents, of these millions and millions of documents, there may be ten emails connecting me with him, probably about ten emails connecting me with him over a 14-year period. I did not have any relationship with him. I barely had anything to do with that person.”

Lutnick told the New York Post in October that he vowed to never be in the same room as Epstein after he witnessed a massage table located in one of the rooms in Epstein’s house. Epstein also allegedly got “weirdly close” to Lutnick to inform him that he got the “right kind of massage” every day.

During the hearing, Lutnick confirmed that he, his wife, children and nannies had lunch with Epstein on a boat during their family vacation in 2012.

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“My wife was with me, as were my four children and nannies. I had another couple with, they were there as well with their children, and we had lunch on the island. That is true, for an hour, and we left with all of my children, with my nannies, and my wife, all together. We were on family vacation. We were not apart,” Lutnick said. 

“Mr. Secretary, again, as I said, there’s not an indication that you yourself engaged in any wrongdoing with Jeffrey Epstein. It’s the fact that you believe that you misled the country and the Congress based on your earlier statements, suggesting that you’d cut off all contact when in fact you had not,” Van Hollen said. 

More files suggested that Lutnick was scheduled to have a drink with Epstein at his home on May 1, 2011. Lutnick said that while he was on the schedule, he denied ever having dinner with Epstein at his New York City home that day. Epstein also appeared to express interest in meeting Lutnick’s nanny, though Lutnick said he has no knowledge of Epstein ever meeting her. The files also showed that Epstein and Lutnick signed papers related to a business venture.

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Later in the hearing, Coons requested that Lutnick disclose all of the details regarding his relationship with Epstein. Lutnick reiterated that he only met Epstein three times over a 14-year time span and denied any wrongdoing.

“To the best of my memory, I met him when he moved next door to me, and I met him two other times in 14 years, none within six years of that first meeting, and then a year and a half later, and none thereafter, and in the presence of my wife,” Lutnick said. “And as Senator Van Hollen said, under no circumstances is there a single word that I’ve done anything remotely wrong in any possible regard. I did not have a, anything you could call a relationship, anything you could call an acquaintance.”

“I literally met him three times over 14 years with widespread in between. That’s all I can remember,” Lutnick continued. 

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Lutnick has received bipartisan calls to resign over the new details regarding his interactions with Epstein. Republican Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie, who has been a leading force in calling for the release of the Epstein files, told CNN that Lutnick was “clearly in business” with Epstein and should simply leave office.