President Donald Trump told reporters Thursday that he wasn’t aware of Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick‘s visit to Little St. James, an island previously owned by Jeffrey Epstein.
Trump was asked about recent revelations regarding Lutnick and Epstein during a White House event, specifically whether he was aware about the 2012 visit to the island.
“No I wasn’t aware of it,” Trump said. “I actually haven’t spoken to him about it, but from what I hear, he was there with his wife and children.”
“I guess in some cases, some people were — I wasn’t. I was never there,” the president said. “Somebody will someday say that I was never there.”
Lutnick testified before the Senate Appropriations Committee on Tuesday, where he faced significant questioning on the drama and detailed three specific meetings with Epstein, including a trip with his family to Little St. James. Days prior, the latest release of Epstein documents by the Justice Department showed that Lutnick, who had previously stated he severed ties with Epstein in 2005, had maintained sporadic contact with Epstein through 2018.
The commerce secretary lived next door to the disgraced financier and sex criminal in New York City. Lutnick told lawmakers Tuesday that the 2012 visit to Epstein’s island was for a family lunch.
“We had lunch on the island,” he said. “That is true, for an hour, and we left with all of my children, with my nannies, and my wife all together. We were on family vacation. We were not apart. To suggest there was anything untoward about that in 2012 — I don’t recall why we did it.”
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, while briefing reporters on Tuesday, claimed that Trump had not lost confidence in Lutnick.
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You can watch Trump’s comments in full below.
