US commerce chief Lutnick acknowledges ‘Epstein Island’ lunch but denies closer ties |
WASHINGTON (AFP) — Facing growing calls for his resignation, US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick admitted Tuesday to having lunch on Jeffrey Epstein’s private island in 2012, but strenuously denied any closer relationship with the convicted sex offender.
Lutnick’s ties to Epstein have come under intense scrutiny after email exchanges included in newly released files undermined his earlier insistence that he had cut all links with the late financier back in 2005.
So far, US President Donald Trump’s administration has stood by Lutnick, with White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt saying the president “fully supports” him.
She added that he “remains a very important member” of Trump’s team.
Epstein, a convicted sex offender who had ties to top business executives, politicians, celebrities and academics, was found dead in his New York jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial for sex trafficking minor girls.
In a podcast last year, Lutnick recounted moving in next door to Epstein in 2005 and receiving a house tour that left him disturbed. He and his wife decided that he would “never be in the room with that disgusting person, ever again.”
“So I was never in the room with him socially, for business or even philanthropy,” he said.
But records have emerged showing Lutnick’s plans in 2012 to meet........