'He Should Just Resign': US Lawmakers Pressure Howard Lutnick To Step Down Over Epstein Links

Last Updated:February 09, 2026, 08:19 IST

Howard Lutnick faces bipartisan calls to resign as Commerce Secretary after new records reveal business ties and visits with Jeffrey Epstein.

Two US lawmakers from opposite parties have urged Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick to step down following the release of new federal records connected to the late financier Jeffrey Epstein, according to a report by CNBC.

Republican Representative Thomas Massie said on CNN’s Inside Politics Sunday that Lutnick should resign to spare the administration further political fallout.

Quoting Massie, CNBC reported him saying, “He should just resign," adding that 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."

Massie went on to argue that Lutnick had “a lot to answer for," but concluded that stepping aside would be the simplest course for the White House, saying he should “make life easier on the president, frankly, and just resign."

Democratic Representative Robert Garcia, the ranking member on the House Oversight Committee, issued a sharper call in a post on X.

“It’s now clear that Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has been lying about his relationship with Epstein," Garcia wrote.

“He said he had no interactions with Epstein after 2005, yet we now know they were in business together. Lutnick must resign or be fired. And he must answer our questions," the post read.

The pressure from lawmakers followed the publication of millions of pages of Epstein-related records by the Justice Department.

The newly-released emails appeared to show Lutnick travelled to Epstein’s private Caribbean island, Little Saint James, in December 2012, years after Lutnick had publicly claimed he severed ties with Epstein.

According to Reuters, the messages included plans for a lunch meeting on the island, as well as follow-up correspondence from Epstein’s staff thanking Lutnick for the visit.

Another set of emails from 2015 showed Epstein forwarding Lutnick an invitation to a fundraiser at Lutnick’s financial firm for then-Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, along with records indicating Lutnick donated the maximum legal amount to her campaign at that time.

Those communications appeared to contradict Lutnick’s earlier comments on a podcast, in which he described an uncomfortable interaction with Epstein around 2005 and said he vowed never to meet him again afterwards.

In response to the document release, a Commerce Department spokesperson told Reuters that Lutnick had only “limited interactions" with Epstein, always in the presence of his wife, and that he has never been accused of wrongdoing.

The report also described how the document trove mentioned numerous prominent figures in politics, business and entertainment, including President Donald Trump, though Justice Department officials stressed that some claims in the files were unsubstantiated and that heavy redactions were used to protect victims or ongoing investigations.

For now, Lutnick has not announced any plans to resign.

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