US commerce secretary Howard Lutnick admits having lunch with Epstein on private island

US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick was grilled on Capitol Hill, as he admitted having visited the notorious Epstein island with his family years earlier. But he forcefully pushed back on the idea that his ties with Jeffrey Epstein ran any deeper.

Lutnick was under fire at a subcommittee hearing of the Senate Appropriations Committee on Tuesday over his alleged ties with disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, following the release of what is known as the Epstein files.

Lutnick is by far the highest-profile US official to face bipartisan calls for his resignation in the controversy.

Senator Chris Van Hollen said: "Why did the Epstein files show you coordinating a meeting and planning a visit with Jeffrey Epstein on his private island in December 2012?"

Describing their contact as a number of emails and meetings that were years apart, Lutnick confirmed his family had lunch with the late sex offender on a visit to his private island in 2012 and that he had another hour-long engagement at Epstein's home in 2011.

That reversed the official's previous claims that he had cut ties with Epstein after a 2005 home tour that disturbed Lutnick and his wife.

Lutnick said: "I did not have any relationship with him. I barely had anything to do with that person, okay."

Shortly after the testimony, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt came to the Commerce chief's defence and said Lutnick remains an important member of Trump's team.

She said: "Secretary Lutnick remains a very important member of President Trump's team and the president fully supports the secretary. I just want to point out that there are a lot of wins in the news this week that people in this room have not asked about because you continue to ask questions about the same subject."

But Leavitt would not confirm whether a reported call by Trump to a Florida police chief over Epstein actually happened.

(Reporter: But did he call the chief in 2006? Karoline, did he call the chief?)

Leavitt said: "Look, it was a phone call that may or may not have happened in 2006. I don't know the answer to that question. What I'm telling you is that what President Trump has always said is that he kicked Jeffrey Epstein out of his Mar-a-Lago club because Jeffrey Epstein was a creep. And that remains true."

When asked by reporters, Leavitt did not rule out the possibility of Trump granting clemency to Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein's ex-girlfriend and accomplice, for her testimony.