Under questioning from Democrats on Tuesday (February 10, 2026), Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick acknowledged that he had met with Jeffrey Epstein twice after his 2008 conviction for soliciting prostitution from a child, reversing Mr. Lutnick’s previous claim that he had cut ties with the late financier after 2005.

Mr. Lutnick once again downplayed his relationship with the disgraced financier who was once his neighbour in New York City as he was questioned by Democrats during a subcommittee hearing of the Senate Appropriations Committee. He described their contact as a handful of emails and a pair of meetings that were years apart.

“I did not have any relationship with him. I barely had anything to do with him,” Mr. Lutnick told lawmakers.

But Mr. Lutnick is facing calls from several lawmakers for his resignation after the release of case files on Epstein contradicted Mr. Lutnick’s claims on a podcast last year that he had decided to “never be in the room” with Epstein again after a 2005 tour of Epstein’s home that disturbed Mr. Lutnick and his wife.

The Commerce Secretary said on Tuesday (February 10, 2026) that he and his family actually had lunch with Epstein on his private island in 2012 and he had another hour-long engagement at Epstein’s home in 2011. Mr. Lutnick, a member of President Donald Trump’s Cabinet, is the highest-profile U.S. official to face bipartisan calls for his resignation amid revelations of his ties to Epstein. His acknowledgement comes as lawmakers are grasping for what accountability looks like amid the revelations contained in what’s known as the Epstein files.

In countries like the United Kingdom, the Epstein files have triggered resignations and the stripping of royal privileges, but so far, US officials have not met the same level of retribution.

Senator Chris Van Hollen, the Democrat who questioned Mr. Lutnick, told him, “There’s not an indication that you yourself engaged in any wrongdoing with Jeffrey Epstein. It’s the fact that you believe that you misled the country and the Congress based on your earlier statements.”

Meanwhile, House members who initiated the legislative effort to force the release of the files are calling for Mr. Lutnick to resign. Republican Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky called for that over the weekend after emails were released that alluded to the meetings between Mr. Lutnick and Epstein.

Rep. Ro Khanna, a California Democrat, joined Massie in pressuring Mr. Lutnick out of office on Monday (February 10, 2026).

“Based on the evidence, he should be out of the Cabinet,” Mr. Khanna said.

He added, “It’s not about any particular person. In this country, we have to make a decision. Are we going to allow the rich and powerful people who are friends and (had) no problem doing business and showing up with a pedophile who is raping underage girls, or are we just going to allow them to skate?”

President Donald Trump’s Justice Department faces a Friday (December 17, 2025) deadline to release a massive ​trove of documents from its investigations into the late financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey ‌Epstein, after Congress overwhelmingly approved a new law forcing their disclosure last month.

That legislation followed months ​of political wrangling as well as rebellion by some of Mr. Trump’s staunchest supporters over his administration’s months-long reluctance to make the records public.

It remains unclear how, or when, the files will be released on Friday (December 17), but they will likely not represent all unclassified records held by the agency. The law allowed the Justice Department to withhold personal information about Epstein’s victims as well as any material that would jeopardize an active investigation.

Attorneys in the Justice Department’s National Security Division were ordered to review the materials and redact them in preparation for their ​release, two sources briefed on the matter said.

They have been working on the task since ⁠after the Thanksgiving holiday and were ordered to prioritize it over other casework. But due to the quick turnaround time, some are nervous about potential mistakes and the chance that some personally identifiable information could accidentally remain, the sources said.

Mr. Trump had initially urged Republicans, who control ​both chambers of Congress, to oppose the law, ⁠arguing that releasing potentially sensitive internal investigative records could set a dangerous precedent. He publicly reversed course just before the vote, even as the White House quietly lobbied senators to slow-walk passage of the Bill.

But many Mr. Trump voters accused his administration of covering up Epstein’s ties to powerful figures and obscuring details surrounding his ‌2019 death in a Manhattan jail, where he was awaiting trial on charges of abusing and ‌trafficking underage girls. While Epstein’s death was ruled a suicide, it sparked years of conspiracy theories, some amplified by Trump himself to his supporters when he was a presidential candidate.

If ‍the Justice Department does not release all of its files, it is likely that many Trump supporters will still not be satisfied. That could mean the issue remains a political headache for the president and his Republican Party ‍heading into tough midterm congressional elections next year.

Trumps gets poor ratings on Epstein issue

Just 44% of American adults who identify as Republicans approve of Mr. Trump’s handling of the Epstein issue, compared to his 82% overall approval rating among the group, according to a recent Reuters/Ipsos poll.

Last month, Democrats in the House of Representatives released thousands of emails obtained from Epstein’s estate, including one in which Epstein wrote that Mr. Trump “knew about the girls,” without clarifying what that meant. Trump, in response, accused Democrats of promoting the “Epstein Hoax” as a distraction.

House Republicans released more emails the same day, including one saying Trump visited Epstein’s house many times but “never got a massage.” Mr. Trump was once friendly with Epstein ⁠until they had a falling out in the mid-2000s, before Epstein’s first conviction in 2008. Trump has not been accused of wrongdoing and has denied knowing about Epstein’s sex trafficking.

But he ​reneged on a 2024 campaign promise to declassify the government’s Epstein files if elected, prompting some lawmakers to launch what ⁠at first was seen as a long-shot effort to force a vote on disclosure. Two days after Congress’ email releases, Trump ordered the Justice Department to investigate Epstein’s connections to Democratic former President Bill Clinton and J.P. Morgan, in what critics viewed as an effort to shift the focus away from himself.

The following week, despite White House pressure to delay the vote, U.S. lawmakers passed a bill forcing the ⁠release of the Justice Department records, which Mr. Trump then signed into law.