- Trump administration Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick should resign, Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., said following revelations about the Cabinet official's dealings with Jeffrey Epstein.
- Schiff made his call after Reps. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., and Robert Garcia, D-Calif., said Lutnick should resign or be fired.
- A New York Times report found Lutnick and Epstein, who were next-door neighbors in New York City, interacted "regularly."
- Lutnick previously said on a podcast that he cut off Epstein after an initial encounter in 2005.
The White House on Monday expressed confidence in Commerce Secretary after several lawmakers called for him to resign or be ousted.
"President Trump has assembled the best and most transformative cabinet in modern history," White House spokesman Kush Desai said in an email. "The entire Trump administration, including Secretary Lutnick and the Department of Commerce, remains focused on delivering for the American people."
Three members of Congress since Sunday called on Lutnick to resign amid revelations that his business and personal dealings with deceased sexual predator Jeffrey Epstein were more extensive than previously known.
Lutnick "lied to the country about his ties to Epstein," Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., wrote in an X post Monday morning.
"Now we learned that they were in business together," Schiff wrote. "He has no business being our Commerce Secretary. He should resign."
Schiff made his statement one day after Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., urged Lutnick to step down in light of The New York Times' report that the Trump administration official interacted "regularly" with Epstein, according to the Epstein files released by the Department of Justice. Massie was the lead Republican on the Epstein Files Transparency Act that compelled the release of the records relating to the notorious sex offender.
"He should just resign," Massie said on CNN's "Inside Politics Sunday." "Howard Lutnick clearly went to the island if we believe what's in these files; he was in business with Jeffrey Epstein, and this was many years after Jeffrey Epstein was convicted."
Massie added, "He's got a lot to answer for, but really, he should make life easier on the president, frankly, and just resign."
Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Calif., the ranking member on the House Oversight Committee, took it a step further, calling on Lutnick to resign — or be fired.
"It's now clear that Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has been lying about his relationship with Epstein. He said he had no interactions with Epstein after 2005, yet we now know they were in business together," he wrote in a post late Sunday on X. "Lutnick must resign or be fired. And he must answer our questions."
Massie also noted that several British officials have been toppled over appearances in the Epstein files. Morgan McSweeney, chief of staff to British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, resigned on Sunday over his role in appointing ousted U.S. Ambassador Peter Mandelson. Mandelson was also named in the Epstein files.
Lutnick's dealings with Epstein have come under increased scrutiny as dozens of public figures have been named in the files, which the DOJ has been releasing after a law was signed compelling their disclosure. The former chairman and CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald said on the podcast "Pod Force One" last year that he swore off interactions with Epstein after an initial encounter in 2005.
The Times' analysis of the Epstein files, however, found that Lutnick and Epstein were in touch for years after the first meeting in 2005. It was previously reported that Epstein had invited Lutnick to his private island in the Caribbean and that Lutnick had been communicating with Epstein about construction happening across the street from their homes. The two also had drinks in 2011, the files revealed.
The Times report also includes new details, including that Epstein's lawyer obtained the resume of Lutnick's nanny and that Epstein donated $50,000 to an event honoring Lutnick.
Epstein and Lutnick also invested in the now-defunct company AdFin Solutions, according to the Times report.
A Commerce Department spokesperson in an email to CNBC said Lutnick had "very limited interactions" with Epstein, and called the report a "failing attempt by the legacy media to distract from the administration's accomplishments."
