Washington DC - Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick on Tuesday admitted to a Senate committee that he had multiple meetings with infamous sex criminal Jeffrey Epstein.

Contradicting his previous accounts, Lutnick acknowledged several emails as well as meetings with the convicted sex offender, including a visit to Epstein's private island in 2012 with his family. He said they had lunch there.

The 64-year-old had claimed in a podcast last year that he decided in 2005 never to be in the same room again with Epstein, whom he called a "disgusting person."

Lutnick still insisted that he had little to do with Epstein, who was his neighbor in New York for a time.

Zohran Mamdani New York City social services commissioner resigns as Zohran Mamdani set to name replacement

Senators raised questions about a reference suggesting that Epstein wanted to meet Lutnick's nanny, but he denied any knowledge of that interaction and added that it "had nothing to do with" him.

Lutnick has faced calls to step down over his contacts with Epstein. The commerce secretary is mentioned repeatedly in the millions of documents released by the Justice Department.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt on Tuesday defended the beleaguered official, calling him "a very important member of President Trump's team and the president fully supports the secretary."

The Epstein scandal has engulfed scores of powerful celebrities, academics, and politicians, up to and including members of the Trump administration. The president himself is allegedly mentioned in the published files more than a million times.