British News Agency

Lutnick stated in his testimony before the U.S. Congress on Tuesday, "I went there by boat with my family for a family vacation and had lunch with him. My wife, four children, and my caretakers were with me... We had lunch on the island. This is true. About an hour."

The correspondence regarding the visit was included in Epstein's documents released by the U.S. Department of Justice.

Some members of Congress have called for Lutnick's resignation, while the White House said on Tuesday that he has the full support of President Donald Trump.

The Secretary of Commerce had previously told Congress that he cut ties with the late financier Epstein (Lutnick's neighbor in New York) in 2005, after Epstein used sexual innuendos to explain why there was a massage table in one of his rooms.

In his testimony on Tuesday, he said, "In the next 14 years, as far as I remember, I met with him two more times."

Department of Justice files show that Lutnick visited Epstein's Caribbean island on December 23, 2012. This occurred four years after Epstein was convicted of soliciting prostitution from a minor.

Lutnick's testimony before Congress was the first public confirmation of his visit.

Commenting on the lunch, he said, "I don't remember why we did it, but we did."

Lutnick, who is considered the architect of Trump's global tariff policy, has not been accused of any inappropriate behavior regarding Epstein.

In addition, Lutnick said that a year and a half after his visit to Epstein's island, he had a one-hour conversation with him.

Lutnick noted that in the millions of pages of Epstein's documents released by the Department of Justice, about 10 emails linked him to Epstein.

"For 14 years, I had no relationship with him, I had almost no connection with that person," said Lutnick.