Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick testifies during the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Judiciary, Science, and Related Agencies hearing on the Department of Commerce’s fiscal year 2027 budget request in Washington, DC, April 22, 2026.
Nathan Posner | Anadolu | Getty Images
Lutnick’s press conference was scheduled to begin at 11 a.m. ET without being sworn in. The interview was not videotaped.
Lutnick was a New York City neighbor of Epstein, who committed suicide in prison in August 2019 after being arrested on federal child sex trafficking charges.
Lutnick previously said he stopped contact with Epstein in 2005, several years before he pleaded guilty in Florida state court to soliciting prostitution from an underage girl.
But Justice Department files show the two continued to communicate in subsequent years.
Lutnick admitted to a Senate committee in February that he visited Epstein’s private island in the U.S. Virgin Islands in 2012 with his family and nanny.
This is developing news. Please check the latest information.
