Trump’s war is providing excellent cover for a notorious Epstein friend: report

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U.S. President Donald Trump speaks next to U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick during the signing ceremony for an executive order in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C., March 31, 2026. REUTERS/Evan Vucci

Polls show more than half of U.S. voters believe that President Donald Trump launched the war in Iran specifically to distract from the Epstein files. And while that “may or may not be true,” reports the i Paper, Trump’s Secretary of Commerce is most definitely enjoying the benefit of the distraction.

“Howard Lutnick is all over the Epstein Files,” reports i Paper writer Alex Shephard. “He was still in touch with the notorious pedophile and alleged sex trafficker ten years after he claimed he had cut off contact with him.

Lutnick agreed to testify before Congress about his relationship with Epstein but while the war has not derailed his upcoming interview it has at least taken the spotlight off it.

“As long as he avoids total humiliation when he appears before Congress (a date has not yet been set), he will likely survive. Trump likes him, and he trusts him, and that’s really all you need in this administration,” said Shepard.

Lutnick tried to brush away his one confirmed visit to Epstein’s notorious private island, saying “We had lunch on the island. That is true. For an hour,” he told Congress during a February hearing that focused on their relationship. “And we left with all of my children, with my nannies, with my wife.”

It was “a lousy defense,” said Shepherd, and wholly inconsistent with his earlier claim that “in the six to eight steps it takes to get from his house to my house, my wife and I decided that I will never be in the room with that disgusting person ever again.”

One unnamed Republican senator told Semafor that Lutnick would have been fired "if it were anybody but President Trump.”

"It’s despicable. And everyone knows it. He looked at the American people and lied like a dog. And I suspect more is going to come out," the Republican told Semafor, while lamenting that voters were going to ruin his Republican Party in the midterms, partly because of the Epstein debacle.

But Trump only fires you if you “publicly criticize or embarrass him,” said Shepherd, and Lutnick “is never going to do either of those things. He’s a true believer.”

“Of course, there’s another reason Lutnick has stuck around,” Shepherd added. “Firing him would risk conceding that the president’s economic agenda is not working as planned. Not only that, it would hit a little too close to home. Sure, Lutnick has whacky economic ideas. He has a tendency to make grandiose claims that aren’t backed up by facts. He is largely ignorant of geopolitics and economics. His overbearing approach to negotiation often alienates partners. He has troubling ties to Epstein. That sounds like someone else, too, doesn’t it?”

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