Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, right, speaks in the Oval Office of the White House during a event with President Donald Trump, Monday, Feb. 2, 2026, in Washington, as Interior Secretary Doug Burgum listens. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

President Donald Trump is standing by his commerce secretary despite newly released documents indicating Howard Lutnick visited deceased pedophile billionaire Jeffrey Epstein’s notorious Caribbean island years after his criminal conviction and even as congressional calls for his resignation grow.

Lutnick, one of Trump’s top economic advisers, discussed traveling to Little St. James in 2012, according to documents released by the Justice Department in response to a new law demanding the investigatory files in the Epstein prosecution.

A follow-up email from Epstein’s assistant appears to confirm Lutnick did, in fact, travel to the island. The apparent trip took place four years after Epstein pleaded guilty to procuring a minor for prostitution.

The emails contradict earlier statements by Lutnick, the former CEO of investment bank Cantor Fitzgerald, suggesting he had cut off ties with Epstein and did not engage with him socially despite living next door to the financier in New York.

The Commerce Department released a statement attacking the news media — “This is nothing more than a failing attempt by the legacy media to distract from the administration’s accomplishments.” – and did not respond to follow-up questions about the apparent 2012 visit.

White House staff similarly dodged the specifics of HuffPost’s........

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