US Commerce Secretary Lutnick planned Epstein island visit, emails show

BBC News - WorldCenterEN 3 min read 100% complete January 31, 2026 at 09:02 PM

AI Summary

medium article 3 min

Newly released emails show US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick planned a family visit to Jeffrey Epstein's private island, Little Saint James, in December 2012. The emails, part of a larger release of Epstein files by the Department of Justice, detail arrangements for Lutnick, his wife, their four children, and another family to visit the island. These plans contradict Lutnick's previous statement in a 2023 interview claiming he severed ties with Epstein in 2005 after a tour of Epstein's Manhattan townhouse. The emails include correspondence about coordinating arrival times, meals, and logistics for the visit. While the emails suggest at least one visit occurred, they do not indicate any wrongdoing on Lutnick's part.

Key Entities & Roles

Key Player Opposition Context

Caneel Bay 30% New York 30% Anguilla 30% St. Bart's 30% St. Thomas 30% New York Post 40% United States Commerce Department 60% Allison Lutnick ×260% Little Saint James ×270% United States Department of Justice ×270% Howard Lutnick ×990% Jeffrey Epstein ×890%

Keywords

jeffrey epstein 100% howard lutnick 90% epstein island visit 80% emails 70% little saint james 60% us commerce department 50% convicted paedophile 40% department of justice 40%

Sentiment Analysis

Negative

Score: -0.30

Source Transparency

Source

BBC News - World

Political Lean

Center (0.00)

Far LeftCenterFar Right

Classification Confidence

90%

Geographic Perspective

Little Saint James

This article was automatically classified using rule-based analysis. The political bias score ranges from -1 (far left) to +1 (far right).

Topic Connections

Explore how the topics in this article connect to other news stories

No topic relationship data available yet. This graph will appear once topic relationships have been computed.

jeffrey epstein howard lutnick epstein island visit emails little saint james us commerce department convicted paedophile department of justice

Explore Full Topic Graph