Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick testified before a Senate committee on Tuesday, ostensibly to discuss broadband funding. But Democratic Sen. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland opened his questioning by pressing Lutnick about the nature of his relationship with convicted sex predator Jeffrey Epstein, including a recently revealed visit he made to Epstein’s infamous island in 2012—seven years after Lutnick claimed he was so “disgusted” by Epstein that he cut off all ties.
“I did have lunch with him as I was on a boat going across on a family vacation,” Lutnick admitted. “My wife was with me, as were my 4 children and nannies. I had another couple with, they were there as well with their children, and we had lunch on the island.”
“I don’t, I don’t recall why we did it,” Lutnick added.
Van Hollen explained that Lutnick’s credibility was at issue, and not any accusation of lascivious activity.
Lutnick, who was Epstein’s neighbor in New York City, said during an October 2025 podcast that he was invited to tour the sex criminal’s newly renovated mansion in 2005, which left a bad taste in his mouth:
“I say to him, ‘Massage table in the middle of your house? How often [do] you have a massage?’ And he says, ‘Every day.’ And then he, like gets, like weirdly close to me. And he says, ‘And the right kind of massage.’ And in the 6 or 8 steps it takes to get from his house to my house, my wife and I decided that I will never be in the room with that disgusting person ever again.”
According to the limited number of Epstein files released by Donald Trump’s Department of Justice, Lutnick’s claims of cutting off Epstein did not hold up. Records show that after Epstein’s 2008 Florida conviction for soliciting sex with a minor, the two began a business correspondence that appears to have continued until at least 2018.
As lawmakers call for his resignation, Lutnick may be hoping a technicality—merely being on an island and not “in the room” with Epstein—will count for something.
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