WASHINGTON, D.C. (WCIV) — Rep. Nancy Mace, a member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, has issued a call for Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick to face questioning from the committee after a photo appearing to show him alongside Jeffery Epstein on the sex offender’s island emerged Thursday. Her latest comments come just after Oversight Chairman James Comer (KY-01) said it was possible the secretary could be asked to testify as part of the committee’s Epstein investigation.
WASHINGTON, DC – FEBRUARY 24: U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick walks through Statuary Hall to the State of the Union address during a Joint Session of Congress at the U.S. Capitol on February 24, 2026, in Washington, DC. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
Jmail, an internet archive documenting the Department of Justice’s release of emails and other documentation related to the Epstein case, claimed a photo appearing to show Lutnick on Little Saint James was deleted by the DOJ. It was identified as file ID EFTA01230639, and according to CBS News, was restored late Thursday evening.
Rep. Mace quoted Jmail’s post and said that Lutnick “should take questions from the Oversight committee.” This comes the day after Hillary Clinton testified to the committee, during which Mace said she was trusted with “a generous amount of time” to question the former secretary of state and first lady. Former President Bill Clinton is set to testify Friday.
READ MORE | “Clinton questioned over Epstein ties: What closed-door testimony could mean“
Rep. Robert Garcia, the ranking Democrat on the House Oversight committee, responded saying he agreed “completely.” Garcia pushed for Lutnick to testify during a press conference following Clinton’s testimony, where he said it is “unacceptable” that the secretary lied about his relationship to the convicted sex offender and that he “should resign today.”
Though the date the photograph was taken is unknown and it has not been confirmed the individual in blue is Lutnick, the commerce secretary did visit Epstein’s private island in 2012, per emails uncovered in a late-January DOJ release and his own recent testimony before Senate Democrats. After admitting he visited the island, Lutnick said he, along with his wife, nannies, and children, spent “an hour” there having lunch. “We were on family vacation. We were not apart,” he said. “To suggest there was anything untoward about that in 2012, I don’t recall why we did it. But we did.”
Lutnick and Epstein were neighbors in Manhattan and he claimed they cut ties in 2005 before his family’s 2012 island visit came to light. It was eventually revealed that the two communicated as recently as 2018, according to emails released by the DOJ. Epstein died in 2019 while in custody in New York.
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