Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick testified to Congress on Wednesday about his ties to Jeffrey Epstein, after the Epstein files’ release raised new questions about his connections to the late financier and revealed his relationship with Epstein continued long after he publicly claimed it had ended.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick testifies during a subcommittee hearing with the Senate Committee on Appropriations on April 22,
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Lutnick testified to the House Oversight Committee, part of the committee’s broader investigation into Epstein and the financier’s alleged sexual abuse.
Lutnick, who led financial firm Cantor Fitzgerald prior to joining the Trump administration, has never been accused of any wrongdoing in connection with Epstein, but had social and some business ties to the late financier, and the two were previously neighbors on Manhattan’s Upper East Side.
The government’s January release of the Epstein files intensified scrutiny on Lutnick and led to some calls for him to resign, as documents showed communications and business deals between the two continuing as late as 2018—long after Epstein had pleaded guilty to soliciting prostitution in 2008, and one year before his indictment and subsequent death in prison.
Those documents contradicted previous claims Lutnick had made, as the Commerce secretary said in October 2025 that after touring Epstein’s penthouse in 2005, he “decided that I will never be in the room with that disgusting person ever again.”
Lutnick has since publicly confirmed his connection with Epstein continued, telling Congress in February he met Epstein three times after they became neighbors and he spent “an hour” on Epstein’s private island in 2012.
House Oversight Committee chair James Comer, R-Ky., told reporters Wednesday that lawmakers would question Lutnick about the island—noting other witnesses who have testified before the committee hadn’t visited it—and acknowledged the commerce secretary “wasn’t 100% truthful” about being on Epstein’s island.
Lutnick’s testimony Wednesday took place behind closed doors, though Comer confirmed a transcript of the testimony will be released in the coming days.
While it won’t be clear what Lutnick said exactly until the transcript is released, anonymous sources cited by MS NOW said Lutnick told lawmakers he was “unsettled” by his invitation to Epstein’s island and how Epstein’s assistant knew Lutnick was already vacationing nearby in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Beyond an initial 2005 meeting when he first became neighbors with Epstein and the 2012 lunch on his island, Lutnick also reportedly told Congress he met with Epstein to discuss a construction project at Epstein’s home that could impact Lutnick. Democrats on the House Oversight Committee told reporters Wednesday that Lutnick had also claimed he didn’t know why he visited Epstein’s island, and backtracked on previous claims he’d made suggesting Epstein may have been engaging in blackmail, saying he had just been speculating and did not know for sure.
Forbes estimates Lutnick and his family’s net worth at $7.4 billion as of Wednesday afternoon.
House Oversight Democrats criticized Lutnick on Wednesday during a break in his testimony, telling reporters they believed the commerce secretary was being “dishonest” and “evasive” about his relationship with Epstein and was not being forthcoming about his dealings with the late financier. “After what we have seen so far … I feel very comfortable in saying Howard Lutnick is a pathological liar who is enabling the most egregious coverup in American history,” Rep. Yassamin Ansari, D-Ariz., said.
In an October 2025 appearance on the New York Post’s “Pod Force One” podcast, Lutnick claimed he had a “one and absolutely done” meeting with Epstein in 2005, when the financier invited Lutnick and his wife over for coffee after they moved in next door to his Manhattan penthouse. Epstein gave the couple a tour of his home, Lutnick said, and when the now-commerce secretary questioned why Epstein had a massage table in the middle of his home, Epstein told Lutnick he received massages every day, and they were “the right kind” of massages. Lutnick said he and his wife quickly said they had to leave and agreed they would “never be in a room with that disgusting person ever again.” Lutnick claimed after that initial meeting, he “was never in a room with [Epstein] socially, for business, or even philanthropy,” adding, “If that guy was there, I wasn’t going because he’s gross.”
Upon the files release, a spokesperson for Lutnick and his wife said in a statement they “met Jeffrey Epstein in 2005 and had very limited interactions with him over the next 14 years.” Lutnick then admitted in testimony before a Senate Appropriations subcommittee that he had met Epstein on three occasions that he could recall, including that first 2005 meeting. “I did not have any relationship with him, I barely had anything to do with that person,” Lutnick maintained during the February testimony, though he said he and his family had lunch with Epstein on the financier’s private island in 2012 while on a vacation. Lutnick testified he did not see anyone on Epstein’s island other than the financier’s staff, and downplayed his mentions in the Epstein files, claiming there were “probably about 10 emails connecting me with him over a 14-year period.”
Many of the documents simply show communications between Lutnick, Epstein and their assistants about the two men meeting or speaking on the phone. They match up with Lutnick’s testimony that he and Epstein met three times including their first meeting in 2005, with emails suggesting the two met for drinks in May 2011, shortly after having a phone conversation, and at Epstein’s island for lunch in December 2012, with Lutnick’s family and another family traveling with them also in attendance. Epstein donated $10,000 for a fundraiser honoring Lutnick in 2017, documents show, but did not attend. While Lutnick suggested in October he had no interest in continuing to associate with Epstein after they met in 2005, a 2009 email from Richard Barnett to Epstein reveals Lutnick was the one who actually first asked for Epstein’s phone number, tasking Barnett to put the two in touch. Emails from 2013 show Epstein passing along links and a document he wanted Lutnick to see, and Epstein’s accountant Richard Kahn emailed Epstein the resume of the Lutnick family’s nanny, saying he was trying to arrange a time for Epstein to meet her. Epstein was also asked about his thoughts on Lutnick in a July 2013 email, responding, “My neighbor smart.” The final correspondence between Lutnick and Epstein appears to be in 2018, when Lutnick advised Epstein of construction at the Frick Museum, next to their homes on the Upper East Side, that would hurt their views of Central Park. “Write a letter and send a lawyer,” Lutnick urged Epstein in May 2018 about opposing the impending construction, to which Epstein responded through his assistant, “WILL DO.”
Lutnick is one of a number of billionaires and high-profile figures who have been linked to Epstein, who died in prison in 2019 after being indicted on sex-trafficking charges. The late financier socialized with numerous high-profile figures, though, like Lutnick, most have not been accused of any wrongdoing, and have denied any knowledge of Epstein’s alleged abuse. Lutnick’s interview with the House Oversight Committee comes as lawmakers have called a number of prominent people linked to Epstein to testify, including Leslie Wexner, former President Bill Clinton, and Bill Gates, who’s slated to testify before the committee next month.
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