U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick testifies throughout a listening to of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Judiciary, Science, and Associated Companies on February 10, 2026 in Washington, DC. Lutnick is going through bipartisan requires his resignation following revelations within the newest launch of the Epstein recordsdata.
Chip Somodevilla | Getty Photos Information | Getty Photos
Home Democrats on Thursday known as for the resignation of Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick, accusing him of mendacity publicly about his relationship with infamous intercourse offender Jeffrey Epstein and refusing to “come clear” in a subsequent non-public convention.
“The details are clear: You publicly lied to the American individuals and tried to cowl up your relationship with Jeffrey Epstein,” the Democratic minority on the Home Oversight and Authorities Reform Committee mentioned in a letter to Lutnick.
“Your lack of candor reveals that you’re unfit to carry out the duties required of you as Secretary of Commerce, and you will need to resign instantly,” the letter, signed by all 21 Democrats on the committee, mentioned.
Mr. Lutnick claimed in an interview final yr that after visiting Mr. Epstein’s Manhattan mansion in 2005, shortly after he moved in subsequent door, he “determined by no means to room with that asshole once more.”
“So I used to be by no means in a room with him, socially, business-wise, philanthropic-wise,” Lutnick mentioned in that interview. “If that man was there, I would not have gone as a result of he is disgusting.”
However years later, after the Justice Division’s launch of Epstein recordsdata revealed their continued relationship, Lutnick admitted in a Senate listening to that he and his household had lunch on the disgraced investor’s non-public island in 2012.
Epstein pleaded responsible in 2008 to state-level costs of soliciting a minor into prostitution and was required to register as a intercourse offender. He died in a New York Metropolis jail in 2019 whereas going through federal intercourse trafficking costs. His dying was dominated a suicide.
Democrats wrote in a letter Thursday that Lutnick’s claims within the 2025 interview are “patently false.”
“Throughout your recorded interview, you had been introduced with clear proof that you just corresponded with and bodily met with Epstein on a number of events previous to his arrest in 2019,” they wrote.
“Regardless of being given the chance to return clear” through the interview, the lawmakers wrote, “they as a substitute proposed implausible distinctions and semantic video games.”
A Commerce Division spokesperson mentioned in an announcement to CNBC that the letter is “one other failed try by Congressional Democrats to distract from Secretary Lutnick’s historic work on the Division of Commerce.”
“Secretary Lutnick, who voluntarily attended the Oversight Committee, answered roughly 400 questions from members and workers, concluding solely when members responded that they’d no additional inquiries to ask,” the spokesperson mentioned.
“He repeatedly defined that the three encounters didn’t represent a relationship, and the committee adjourned with out figuring out any proof on the contrary. Requires his resignation are baseless and politically motivated.”
The White Home introduced in February that President Donald Trump would proceed to assist Lutnick, who has come below scrutiny over his previous friendship with Epstein.
Lutnick testified privately earlier than the Home Oversight Committee on Might 6. He instructed the committee that he agreed to look after Rep. Nancy Mace (RS.C.) mentioned she would subject a bipartisan subpoena to compel him to testify, however mentioned he was taking part voluntarily.
Mr. Lutnick mentioned he recalled assembly Mr. Epstein thrice, together with interactions in 2005 and 2012, in accordance with a transcript of the interview.
Mr. Lutnick mentioned that Mr. Epstein’s workers contacted him in 2011 “suggesting that they could have a motive to contact me.” The secretary mentioned Lutnick deliberate to ring Epstein’s doorbell on Sunday afternoon “to hear” whereas he was strolling his spouse and canine.
“My fondest reminiscence is ringing the bell, sitting on his entrance porch with the canine, ready for him to return down, listening to him and strolling away. So far as I can bear in mind, it was about scaffolding. It was pointless and insignificant,” he instructed the committee.
In response to questioning, Lutnick denied being misled about his relationship with Epstein, insisting there was a important distinction between utilizing the phrases “I” and “we.”
“I used to be correct. I feel I defined it precisely. I do not need to be corrected in any manner. It was that I would not room with him socially, however I wasn’t. It was for enterprise, and I wasn’t. It was for charity, and I wasn’t.” That is why I consider what I mentioned was correct, and I nonetheless consider it. That is why I did not say ‘we’ would by no means say it. I mentioned ‘I am going to by no means say it.’ he mentioned.
The questioner replied, “All of us perceive that you just had been within the room with him at a social gathering, however you claimed this sentence to be correct. So I simply, on the face of it, it would not make sense.”
Lutnick later mentioned, “I wasn’t with him. I imply, there was by no means a scenario the place I used to be with him. I used to be along with his spouse. And people had been meaningless and inconsequential. However in context, so individuals can perceive, I do not know some other manner. “I, Howard Lutnick, have by no means been in that scenario, so you’ll be able to’t take that out of context. I wasn’t with him.”
“No sane individual would settle for this clarification,” the Democrat wrote Thursday.
“A minister’s most simple obligation to Congress is candor. What you say impacts the lives of all People. You used your parliamentary interview to not right the report, however to perpetuate a false public narrative,” they wrote.
“You contradicted every thing you’ve got mentioned and interrupted with fundamental questions. A Secretary who parses plain English to keep away from acknowledging his personal phrases, claims no documented recollection of a convicted intercourse offender’s go to to a non-public island, and refuses to reply fundamental questions on his conversations with the president can’t be trusted to guide the federal authorities.”
“We due to this fact ask you to instantly resign as Secretary of Commerce,” they wrote.
