By David Lawder, Alexandra Alper and Courtney Rozen
WASHINGTON, Feb 10 (Reuters) – U.S Commerce Department Secretary Howard Lutnick on Tuesday sought to distance himself from Jeffrey Epstein, alleging he “barely had anything to do with” the convicted sex offender amid calls for his resignation over new revelations about ties between them.
The U.S. Justice Department in January published millions of new files related to Epstein, including emails that showed Lutnick apparently visited Epstein’s private island for lunch years after he claimed to have cut off ties. Lutnick now faces calls from both sides of the aisle to resign.
Lutnick pushed back in a Senate hearing, saying the two men had exchanged only about 10 emails and met three times over 14 years and that a lunch with Epstein only took place because Lutnick was on a boat near his island, adding that his family was present.
“I did not have any relationship with him. I barely had anything to do with that person,” he told a Senate Committee under questioning from Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen.
Lutnick is just one of a host of powerful men in politics, business and entertainment, including U.S. President Donald Trump himself, who are under fire for their ties with Epstein, in a reflection of the elite circles Epstein inhabited.
Lutnick is also in the hot seat over apparent contradictions between the documents and his prior remarks about Epstein, who lived next door to the former Cantor Fitzgerald CEO in New York at the time.
Lutnick previously claimed he vowed never to “be in a room” with Epstein following a 2005 incident in which the financier showed Lutnick a massage table at his townhouse and made a sexually suggestive comment.
But the emails showed, in addition to the 2012 lunch, that in November 2015, Epstein’s assistant forwarded him an invitation from Lutnick to a fundraiser at his financial firm for Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.
“I know and my wife knows that I have done absolutely nothing wrong in any possible regard,” Lutnick said at the hearing.
The hearing comes a day after Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell refused to answer questions at a deposition before the U.S. House’s Committee on Oversight and Government Reform on Monday, according to lawmakers, drawing criticism from both Republican and Democratic members of the committee.
(Reporting by David Lawder, Alexandra Alper and Courtney Rozen)
