2026年2月10日 / 美国东部时间下午1:40 / 哥伦比亚广播公司新闻
商务部长霍华德·卢特尼克周二承认，2012年曾访问杰弗里·爱泼斯坦在其私人岛屿上，此前参议院民主党人质疑他在此问题上的可信度。司法部近日公布的爱泼斯坦相关文件显示，卢特尼克与爱泼斯坦的关系比他此前所述更为密切。
马里兰州民主党参议员克里斯·范霍伦回忆称，卢特尼克曾声称2005年已切断与爱泼斯坦的联系——爱泼斯坦是他在纽约的邻居，但“现在事实证明这并非事实”。卢特尼克去年称自己与杰弗里·爱泼斯坦有“有限互动”，但文件显示两人直到2014年仍有商业往来，甚至在爱泼斯坦2019年去世前一年（2018年）仍有电子邮件往来。
“爱泼斯坦文件中近期披露的信息显示，你的陈述至少极具误导性，”范霍伦表示。他随后补充道，“卢特尼克先生，这确实让人质疑你是否适合担任现职以及你的可信度。”
卢特尼克在承认爱泼斯坦文件中披露的互动后，继续与爱泼斯坦划清界限。他称在14年间与这位邻居见了两次面，并强调“我与他没有任何关系，我几乎没和那个人有过什么交集。明白吗？”
但卢特尼克承认，他和妻子、孩子以及另一个家庭曾访问过爱泼斯坦位于加勒比海的私人岛屿。
“我们在岛上吃了午餐，这是事实，吃了一个小时。然后我们带着所有孩子、保姆和妻子一起离开了。我们当时是家庭度假，没有分开。有人暗示2012年那次访问有什么不妥，我不记得当时为什么要去，但我们确实去了，”卢特尼克说。
俄勒冈州民主党参议员杰夫·默克利也指出了卢特尼克与爱泼斯坦的互动——从一笔商业交易到电子邮件中对一家艺术博物馆扩建的抱怨——默克利称这些互动“总体上表明，你在2005年声称切断了所有联系，这并非完整且全面的说明。”
哥伦比亚广播公司新闻首先报道，爱泼斯坦和卢特尼克的签名出现在2012年一份合同的相邻页面上。这位被判有罪的性犯罪者和金融服务公司Cantor Fitzgerald前董事长各自持有一家现已关闭的广告技术公司Adfin的股份。他们于2012年12月28日签署合同，即卢特尼克访问爱泼斯坦岛屿的四天后。
这笔交易达成时，距离爱泼斯坦就佛罗里达州指控其为未成年人提供卖淫服务和招揽妓女认罪已过去四年多。此案引发了关于更广泛的性交易阴谋的指控，爱泼斯坦随后被指控犯有包括贩卖人口在内的联邦重罪。
拨款委员会的民主党人敦促卢特尼克提交自己的记录，证明他与爱泼斯坦的互动仅限于已公开的内容。
卢特尼克表示他会考虑这样做，但未承诺一定会提交。
“我肯定会谈谈这个问题。我之前没考虑过，但我没有什么可隐瞒的，绝对没有，”卢特尼克说。
https://www.cbsnews.com/video/elon-musk-and-howard-lutnick-appear-in-latest-batch-of-epstein-files/
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick defends visit to Epstein’s island with his family
February 10, 2026 / 1:40 PM EST / CBS News
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick acknowledged Tuesday visiting Jeffrey Epstein on his private island in 2012, as Senate Democrats called into question his credibility on the issue. Justice Department files on Epstein released recently show Lutnick and Epstein had a closer relationship than Lutnick has previously stated.
Maryland’s Democratic Sen. Chris Van Hollen recalled that Lutnick had previously claimed to have cut off contact with Epstein, Lutnick’s neighbor in New York, in 2005, “but now it turns out not to be true.” Lutnick said last year he had “limited interactions” with Jeffrey Epstein, but documents show they were in business together as recently as 2014, and emailed as recently as 2018, the year before Epstein’s death.
“The information recently revealed from the Epstein files show that your statements were at best highly misleading,” Van Hollen said. He added later, “Mr. Lutnick that does call into question your fitness for the job you now hold and the question of your credibility.”
Lutnick continued to distance himself from Epstein while admitting to the interactions revealed in the Epstein files. Lutnick said he met with his next-door neighbor two times in 14 years, and “I did not have any relationship with him, I barely had anything to do with that person. Okay?”
But Lutnick admitted he, his wife and kids, and another family visited Epstein on his private Caribbean island.
“We had lunch on the island, that is true, for an hour. Then we left with all of my children, with my nannies and my wife all together. We were on family vacation. We were not apart. To suggest there was anything untoward about that in 2012, I don’t recall why we did it. But we did,” Lutnick said.
Oregon Democratic Sen. Jeff Merkley also noted interactions between Lutnick and Epstein — ranging from a business deal to emailed gripes about an art museum’s expansion — that Merkley said “collectively, it suggests that when you said in 2005 you cut off all contact, that was not a full and complete accounting.”
Epstein and Lutnick’s signatures appear on neighboring pages in a 2012 contract, which was first reported by CBS News. The convicted sex offender and the former chairman of the financial services firm Cantor Fitzgerald each acquired stakes in a now-shuttered advertising technology company called Adfin. They signed the contract on Dec. 28, 2012, four days after Lutnick’s visit to Epstein’s island.
The deal was struck more than four years after Epstein agreed to enter a guilty plea to Florida state charges of procuring a child for prostitution and soliciting a prostitute. The case raised allegations of a far broader sex trafficking scheme, and Epstein was charged with federal felonies including trafficking.
Democrats on the Appropriations committee urged Lutnick to submit his own records proving his interactions with Epstein were limited to what’s already publicly known.
Lutnick indicated he would consider doing so, but stopped short of promising.
“I will surely talk about that. I hadn’t thought about that. I have nothing to hide, absolutely nothing,” Lutnick said.
https://www.cbsnews.com/video/elon-musk-and-howard-lutnick-appear-in-latest-batch-of-epstein-files/
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