Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick is staring down bipartisan calls to resign after newly released Justice Department documents paint a picture sharply at odds with his own account of his relationship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Rep. Thomas Massie, the Kentucky Republican who helped pry the Epstein files loose from the Justice Department, didn't mince words on CNN's "Inside Politics" Sunday:

Look, Howard Lutnick clearly went to the island if we believe what's in these files. He was in business with Jeffrey Epstein. And this was many years after Jeffrey Epstein was convicted. You know, lightly sentenced, but was convicted for sexual crimes.

Massie followed that with a blunt recommendation:

So, he's got a lot to answer for. But really, he should make life easier on the president, frankly, and just resign.

That last line matters. This isn't a Democrat trying to kneecap the administration. This is a Republican—one who did the hard work of getting these files released—telling a Cabinet secretary to walk away for the good of the president he serves.

The timeline that won't cooperate

Lutnick has told a clean, simple story about Epstein. On the "Pod Force One" podcast in October, he was unequivocal:

So, I was never in the room with him socially, for business or even philanthropy. If that guy was there, I wasn't going because he's gross.

He summed it up with a neat little bow:

That's my story. A one and absolutely done.

The documents tell a different story. Here's what they show:

• Lutnick lived next door to Epstein for over a decade.
• An email from Epstein's schedule dated May 1, 2011—three years after Epstein's conviction—showed plans for drinks with Lutnick.
• In December 2012, documents showed Lutnick and his family planned to visit Epstein's private island.
• That same month, both Lutnick and Epstein invested in the same business, according to legal documents.
• Documents show Lutnick remained in contact with Epstein as recently as 2018.

Epstein pleaded guilty to sex crimes, including soliciting prostitution from a minor, and was convicted in 2008 by a Florida state court. Every interaction documented above took place after that conviction. Not before. After.

Even the Department of Commerce's own damage control complicated the narrative. A spokesperson told ABC News on Monday:

Mr. and Mrs. Lutnick met Jeffrey Epstein in 2005 and had very limited interactions with him over the next 14 years.

"Very limited interactions" over fourteen years is not "a one and absolutely done." Those two statements cannot coexist.

A bipartisan problem—which makes it worse

When Democrats alone call for a Republican official's resignation, it's Tuesday. When Republicans join in, it's a five-alarm fire.

Rep. Robert Garcia, the ranking Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, posted on X:

It's now clear that Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has been lying about his relationship with Epstein. He said he had no interactions with Epstein after 2005, yet we now know they were in business together. Lutnick must resign or be fired. And he must answer our questions.

Rep. Melanie Stansbury, a New Mexico Democrat, called for Lutnick to step down immediately, noting the procedural reality that subpoenas require majority consent on the committee.

But the more consequential voice here is Massie's. When asked whether Lutnick should at least testify before Congress, Massie didn't even grant that much runway:

No, he should just resign.

The Oversight Committee's balancing act

According to ABC News, House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer is threading a needle. His committee has five subpoenas already on the books—targeting former President Bill Clinton, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, billionaire businessman Les Wexner, and others. When ABC News asked Comer about adding Lutnick to that list, he declined to commit:

We've got a lot of very important people we're trying to bring in that to answer questions. We don't want to do anything to jeopardize the five that we have on the books. So we'll see what happens here, and we'll move forward.

Comer also struck a broader note:

We're interested in talking to anyone that might have any information that would help us get justice for the survivors.

That's the right frame. The Epstein investigation was never supposed to be a partisan weapon—it was supposed to be an accounting. Massie and Rep. Ro Khanna, a Democrat, co-led the push to get the Justice Department to release its files. Members of Congress visited the DOJ on Monday to review three million pages of unredacted documents. This is serious, bipartisan work aimed at people who enabled a convicted predator, regardless of party or position.

The moment it becomes about protecting allies rather than pursuing the truth, the entire effort loses credibility. Comer seems to understand this, even if he's not ready to act on Lutnick specifically.

The White House response says everything by saying nothing

White House spokesman Kush Desai issued a statement standing by Lutnick:

President Trump has assembled the best and most transformative cabinet in modern history. The entire Trump administration, including Secretary Lutnick and the Department of Commerce, remains focused on delivering for the American people.

Notice what's missing. No mention of Epstein. No mention of the documents. No mention of the resignation calls. It's a statement designed to avoid the story entirely—a boilerplate endorsement that could have been written about any Cabinet member on any day.

That kind of non-answer has a short shelf life when the documents are public, and a Republican congressman is going on cable news to say your Commerce Secretary "clearly went to the island."

What this actually comes down to

The conservative case for accountability here is simple. The Epstein files were released because Republicans and Democrats alike demanded transparency. The whole point was to expose the powerful people who associated with a convicted child predator and then lied about it. You cannot champion that transparency and then look the other way when the documents point at someone on your team.

Lutnick's story has shifted from "I wasn't in the room with him" to "very limited interactions over fourteen years." Documents show scheduled drinks, a planned island visit with family, a shared business investment, and contact stretching a full decade past Epstein's conviction. The gap between what Lutnick said and what the paper trail shows is not a matter of interpretation. It's a matter of chronology.

Massie put it plainly. The survivors deserve answers more than any Cabinet secretary deserves protection.