Trump claims ignorance of Lutnick's Epstein island visit and then says he heard 'he was there with his wife and children

Source: The Independent

Thursday 12 February 2026 16:41 EST


President Donald Trump on Thursday said he did not know about Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick’s 2012 trip to pedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein’s notorious private island but then told a reporter he had heard about details oif (sic) the trip.

Speaking from the Roosevelt Room during an event to announce the repeal of a longstanding climate rule reviled by the fossil fuel industry, Trump was asked if he’d been aware of Lutnick’s travel to Little Saint James, the small part of the U.S. Virgin Islands previously owned by Epstein, and whether he still has confidence in the former bond trading executive.

“No, I wasn’t aware of it ... I actually haven't spoken to him about it ... but from what I hear, he was there with his wife and children,” Trump said, just days after Lutnick was forced to admit he had traveled to the notorious locale. He added: “I was never there — somebody will someday say that I was never there.”

Trump notably did not answer the second part of the question as to whether he has confidence in Lutnick, a longtime friend who had pushed to become Treasury Secretary after serving as the finance chief for the president’s 2024 campaign.

Read more: https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-epstein-island-howard-lutnick-b2919487.html