Rep. Thomas Massie has called for the resignation of Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick following his ties to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, as revealed in the latest batch of documents released by the Department of Justice.
The Republican representative of Kentucky, who has led the charge in securing the release of the Epstein files, appeared on CNN’s Inside Politics Sunday and was asked whether Lutnick should testify before Congress.
It emerged last week that Lutnick visited Epstein’s private Caribbean island with his family on at least one occasion and accepted an invitation in 2012.
“He should just resign!” Massie told CNN’s Manu Raju. “There are three people in Great Britain that have resigned in politics — the ambassador from Great Britain to the United States, the Prince lost his title for less than what we’ve seen Howard Lutnick lie about. If this were Great Britain, he’d already be gone.”
Massie was referring to former U.S. ambassador to the United Kingdom, Peter Mandelson, who is in the middle of a firestorm over his links to Epstein, and Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, who was stripped of his title by his brother, King Charles III.
“Look, Howard Lutnick clearly went to the island, if we believe what’s in these files. He was in business with Jeffrey Epstein. And this was many years after Jeffrey Epstein was convicted — you know, lightly sentenced, but was convicted for sexual crimes,” Massie continued. “So he’s got a lot to answer for. But really he should make life easier on the president, frankly, and just resign.”
The Independent has contacted the Commerce Department for comment.
The alleged revelations about Lutnick in the Epstein files contradict earlier claims that he cut ties with the disgraced financier long ago.
Emails show Lutnick and his wife accepted an invitation to Epstein’s island, Little St. James, in the U.S. Virgin Islands in December 2012 and planned to arrive by yacht with their children.
Lutnick, a former chairman of Newmark, a major commercial real estate firm, also had drinks with Epstein in 2011 and corresponded with him about the construction of a building across the street from both their homes.
In a statement, the Commerce Department said Lutnick had “limited interactions with Mr. Epstein in the presence of his wife and has never been accused of wrongdoing.”
According to The New York Times, Lutnick’s name appeared in more than 250 documents in the Epstein files.
A representative of the Commerce Department told the outlet that Lutnick and his wife met Epstein in 2005 and had “very limited interactions with him” in the years that followed.
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