U.S. President Donald Trump waves as he boards Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, U.S., April 11, 2026. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
With U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick lying about his ties to convicted sex-trafficker Jeffrey Epstein and his son facing scrutiny over alleged tariff ruling profits, Republicans are beginning to see Lutnick’s position as a liability.
Raskin, the ranking Democrat of the House Judiciary Committee, is demanding answers from Lutnick and his son, Brandon Lutnick, the Chairman of Cantor Fitzgerald, regarding reports that the firm spent millions of dollars buying the rights to potential tariff refunds. The strategy of hedging their bets on the court’s decision was effectively a wager that the courts would reject the Trump Administration’s unlawful “Liberation Day” tariffs that Lutnick had championed. Raskin said this raised the appearance of impropriety and questions about whether the firm may have benefited from nonpublic insight into the tariffs’ legal vulnerabilities and the Administration’s litigation strategy.
Internal documents reviewed by Wired reveal that Cantor Fitzgerald engaged a scheme to pay 20 to 30 cents on the dollar for tariff refunds.
But not helping matters is the fact that Lutnick clearly claimed he had no post charges contact with Epstein, which proved to be false after information in the Epstein files was released, revealing he had lunch on Epstein island with his family and Epstein.
Republican strategist Shermichael Singleton told CNN anchor Jake Tapper that Lutnick would drag Trump down in the months leading up to November, however, and needed to go.
“Look, I don't know if he did anything illegal, but I'll say this as a strategist: you never want any person around the [president] to bring their baggage, particularly with midterms coming up,” said Singleton. “We have a war in Iran we're trying to bring a resolution to. You have the economy that is, quite frankly, unstable for half of the country, and you have a president and a party that wants to keep power.”
“So, for me, with all due respect to Mr. Lutnick and anyone else, that may be a deal breaker for President Trump—I would say you gotta go. You’re too big of a distraction and the president frankly doesn’t need it.”
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