\n Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick confirmed on Tuesday that he and his family had lunch with Jeffrey Epstein on the disgraced financier and convicted sex offender\u2019s Caribbean island in 2012, even as he insisted the two did not have a relationship.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cI did have lunch with him, as I was on a boat going across on a family vacation. My wife was with me, as were my four children and nannies,\u201d Lutnick told a congressional committee Tuesday. \u201cWe had lunch on the island, that is true, for an hour, and we left with all of my children with my nannies and my wife\u2026 I don\u2019t recall why we did it.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n But Lutnick denied that he and Epstein<\/a>, who met when they lived in neighboring houses in New York, had deeper ties.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cOf these millions and millions of documents, there may be 10 emails connecting me with him\u2026 over a 14 year period,\u201d Lutnick told senators. \u201cI did not have any relationship with him. I barely had anything to do with that person.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n The comments raise new questions about the extent of Lutnick\u2019s ties to Epstein and his characterization of their interactions in the past. Republican Rep. Thomas Massie, a co-author of the law that compelled the release of the Epstein files<\/a>, had previously called on Lutnick to resign over his links to the late sex offender. And even before the commerce secretary\u2019s remarks on Tuesday, the files had undercut Lutnick\u2019s description of having cut ties with Epstein in 2005.\n <\/p>\n \n The questions at the hearing \u2013 ostensibly about broadband funding deployment \u2013 also underscored how the latest release of Epstein files has shaken government and business figures around the world.\n <\/p>\n \n In the UK, Prime Minister Keir Starmer\u2019s leadership<\/a> is in question after key aides have resigned in Epstein fallout. In Norway, Crown Princess Mette-Marit<\/a> is facing questions about her fitness to someday serve as queen as her apparently friendly relationship has come to light.\n <\/p>\n \n At Tuesday\u2019s hearing, Democratic senators questioning Lutnick acknowledged he was not accused of wrongdoing. But they said his previous statements on Jeffrey Epstein<\/a> had misled them.\n <\/p>\n