Howard Lutnick, Trump’s commerce secretary, visited Epstein’s island, new release shows

U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a ceremonial swearing-in for U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington on Friday, Feb. 21, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Pool via AP

WASHINGTON- The U.S. Justice Department on Friday published millions of new files related to the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, including emails that show Howard Lutnick, U.S. President Donald Trump’s commerce secretary, apparently visited Epstein’s private island for lunch years after he claimed to have cut off ties.

Todd Blanche, the U.S. deputy attorney general, said Friday’s massive batch of documents marked the end of the Trump administration’s planned releases under a law passed in November that mandated the release of all Epstein investigative documents. The new cache includes more than three million pages, 2,000 videos, and 180,000 images, he said at a press conference.

Reuters is reviewing the files.

Trump, who was friends with Epstein in the ’90s and early 2000s before they had a falling out years before Epstein’s first conviction, spent months resisting any release until both Democrats and Republicans in Congress forced his hand by advancing the law over his objections.

Trump has not been accused of any wrongdoing in connection with Epstein, and he has denied any knowledge of Epstein’s crimes. But the scandal has dogged him for months, in part because he promised to release the files during his 2024 presidential campaign.

Epstein died in jail in 2019 while awaiting trial.

The newly published files included hundreds of documents that mention Trump, many of which were collections of media reports.

One file detailed what appeared to be internal email communications by federal investigators who were looking into salacious accusations involving the president and Epstein. The emails in that file, all from August 2025, gave no indication that any claims had been substantiated, and investigators noted several of the accusers were deemed not credible.

In a press release, the Justice Department wrote, “Some of the documents contain untrue and sensationalist claims against President Trump that were submitted to the FBI right before the 2020 election. To be clear, the claims are unfounded and false, and if they have a shred of credibility, they certainly would have been weaponized against President Trump already.”

One message, whose sender and recipient are both redacted, reads, “what does JE think of going to Mar-a-Lago after xmas instead of his island?” referring to Trump’s private Florida club. The message is from 2012, years after Trump has said the two men stopped socializing.

The files also include what appears to be a 2002 email from Melania Trump to Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s partner and co-conspirator, about a New York Magazine piece on Epstein.

“Nice story about JE in NY mag. You look great on the picture,” the email says. “Give me a call when you are back in NY.”

Maxwell was convicted of sex trafficking a minor and other charges and sentenced to 20 years in prison.

Lutnick, Musk messages included in files

Among the documents are messages between Epstein and various noteworthy figures.

Emails show that Epstein and Lutnick made plans to meet for lunch on Dec. 23, 2012, on Epstein’s Caribbean island, Little Saint James. On that day at 11:16 a.m., Lutnick’s wife told Epstein’s secretary that “we are heading towards you from St. Thomas” and asked where they should anchor.

A day after the gathering, an assistant to Epstein sent Lutnick a follow-up note from Epstein that read in part, “Nice seeing you.”

In November 2015, Epstein’s longtime assistant sent him an invitation from Lutnick to a fundraiser at his financial firm for Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. Clinton would go on to lose to Trump in the 2016 presidential election.

The email exchanges appear to contradict Lutnick’s comments on a podcast last year. Lutnick said Epstein, his next-door neighbour at the time, invited him and his wife around 2005 to tour Epstein’s townhome, where the financier made a sexually suggestive comment about a massage table he had set up. Lutnick said he vowed to “never be in a room” with Epstein again.

The Department of Commerce did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In another email exchange, Epstein and billionaire Elon Musk discuss an invitation from Epstein to visit the island.

“The invitation is much appreciated, but a peaceful island experience is the opposite of what I’m looking for,” Musk wrote Epstein on Christmas Day in 2012. Musk said he had been “working to the edge of sanity” and asked Epstein if he had “any parties planned.”

Epstein replied that he understood Musk turning down the invitation, adding that “the ratio on my island” might make Musk’s female companion uncomfortable, without elaborating further.

A few days later, Musk invited Epstein to join him and others for drinks in “St. Bart’s,” presumably the Caribbean island of Saint Barthelemy, but it is unclear if the two met up there.

Musk did not immediately respond to a request for comment. In a post on X last year after his name was included in an earlier release of files, he wrote, “Epstein tried to get me to go to his island and I REFUSED.”

Democrats object to withheld documents

Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer, questioned whether the administration had released all of its relevant material, noting that the Justice Department had identified six million potentially responsive pages but released only 3.5 million.

Blanche said the files include “extensive” redactions, including identifying information of victims or materials related to active investigations. Previous releases have been heavily redacted.

Blanche said the department had withheld other files based on legal privilege. Some lawmakers have said those withholdings appear to run counter to the law.

Epstein was found hanged in his jail cell in 2019. While his death was ruled a suicide, it has engendered years of conspiracy theories, some of which Trump himself amplified to his own supporters during his 2024 presidential campaign.

Andrew Goudsward and Brad Heath, Reuters