Dems demand Lutnick resign over Epstein interview: 'You lied'

U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick testifies during a Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies hearing on February 10, 2026 in Washington, DC. Lutnick is facing bipartisan calls for his resignation after revelations that came to light in the latest release of Epstein files. Chip Somodevilla | News | House Democrats on Thursday demanded Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick 's resignation, alleging he publicly lied about his relationship with notorious sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and refused to "come clean" during a subsequent closed-door interview . "The facts are clear: you lied to the American people and attempted to conceal your relationship with Jeffrey Epstein in your public statements," the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform's Democratic minority said in a letter to Lutnick . "Your lack of candor demonstrates that you are unfit to perform the duties required of you as secretary of Commerce, and you must step down immediately," read the letter signed by all 21 of the panel's Democratic members. Lutnick claimed in an interview last year that, following a visit to Epstein's Manhattan mansion shortly after he moved next door to him in 2005, he had "decided that I will never be in the room with that disgusting person ever again." "So I was never in the room with him, socially, for business or even philanthropy," Lutnick said in that interview. …