Trump calls Lutnick 'very innocent' as DOJ reposts Epstein island photo
President Donald Trump on Friday called his commerce secretary a "very innocent guy" as Democrats sought more details on the relationship between Howard Lutnick and the late sex offender Jeffery Epstein.
When asked about Democrats wanting Lutnick to be deposed after repeated mentions of him in the Epstein files, Trump suggested Lutnick would.
"Well, Howard would go in and do whatever he has to say," Trump said. "He's a very innocent guy, doing a good job."
After a contentious Senate Appropriations subcommittee hearing earlier this month in which Lutnick testified that he visited Epstein's Caribbean island in 2012 with his family and others, top committee Democrats pushed Lutnick on Friday for further details on his relationship with the convicted sex offender.
In a letter sent to Lutnick, Sen. Chris Van Hollen, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Appropriations subcommittee, and Sen. Jeff Merkley, a member of the Subcommittee and lead sponsor of the Epstein Files Transparency Act, requested all records of Lutnick's meetings, phone calls, and correspondence with Epstein or his associates during the time they were acquainted, as well as a timeline of every interaction with Epstein and "answers to questions regarding his nanny," among other items.
The development came hours after the Department of Justice restored a photo purportedly showing Lutnick on Epstein's private island to its trove of publicly released documents.
On Thursday, a Department of Justice official acknowledged the photo was taken down as part of a "batch of files that were flagged for nudity" following the recent release of Epstein files.
The image itself did not contain nudity, and the restored version of the photo did not contain any new redactions.
"The batch of thousands of images was pulled for review and is being uploaded with necessary redactions on a rolling basis. No files are being deleted," the official said.
Some photos on the Department of Justice's website are batched together into a single document, and the DOJ has said they are pulling documents on a rolling basis to make necessary redactions, such as for nudity or personally identifiable information.
The previously removed photo appears to show Epstein, Lutnick -- dressed in a blue shirt and white shorts -- and three other individuals near the southwest corner of Little Saint James, the private island owned by Epstein in the United States Virgin Islands.
The Commerce Department and White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Department of Justice appears to have withdrawn the image from its public archive of Epstein documents sometime earlier this month, according to a saved version on the nonprofit site Wayback Machine. The removal prompted criticism from lawmakers including Representatives Ted Lieu, Thomas Massie, and Jimmy Gomez.
"Dear @AGPamBondi: Why are you covering up this picture of Epstein's friend Lutnick?" Lieu wrote on X. "And are you really so stupid you think deleting a picture after you've posted it on the internet will make it go away?"
Though Lutnick testified before the Senate Appropriations subcommittee that he visited Epstein's island during a 2012 vacation, he initially claimed he distanced himself from Epstein in 2005.
Emails released by the Department of Justice earlier this month showed Lutnick's wife coordinating with Epstein's assistant to visit the island for lunch in December 2012.
"I did have lunch with him, as I was on a boat going across on a family vacation. My wife was with me, as were my four children and nannies," Lutnick told the Senate Appropriations subcommittee.
Kentucky GOP Rep. Thomas Massie, who broke from his party to push for the release of the Epstein files, called on the Department of Justice on Thursday to explain why the image was removed.
"I'm sure there's a good reason for this. DOJ needs to tell Congress who pulled this file down so we can ask them," Massie wrote on X.
ABC News' Lauren Peller and Luke Barr contributed to this report.
