US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick testifies during a hearing in the Dirksen Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill in Washington DC, the US, on February 10, 2026. Photo: VCG

"Something Is Rotten in the State of America" - a headline once used by The New York Times in a report on US foreign policy - may now resonate far beyond diplomacy. As a new round of disclosures from the Epstein files revealed the sweeping scope of connections between the late financier and Western elites, the spin on the famous idiom taken from Hamlet appears increasingly apt.

US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick on Tuesday found himself embroiled in renewed controversy over his past relationship with late US financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, after acknowledging meetings that appeared to contradict his previous public statements. The scrutiny may result in the first senior official in the US government to be held accountable for ties with the scandal, experts said. 

On Tuesday, Lutnick testified before the US Senate Appropriations Committee and was pressed on a series of questions, including whether he maintained contact with Epstein after the latter's conviction and whether his previous statements had misrepresented the nature of their relationships. Responding to questions from Senator Chris Van Hollen, Lutnick appeared defensive and sought to distance himself from Epstein, according to videos released by ABC News and Forbes.

Lutnick said that of the millions and millions of documents, there may be 10 emails connecting him with Epstein. "Over a 14-year period, I did not have any relationship with him, I barely had anything to do with that person," Lutnick claimed during the hearing, according to the BBC. 

However, Van Hollen emphasized that the issue was not criminal wrongdoing but credibility. "The issue is not that you engaged in any wrongdoing in connection with Jeffrey Epstein, but that you totally misrepresented the extent of your relationship with him, to the Congress, to the American people and to the survivors of his despicable criminal and predatory acts," he said, the BBC reported.

According to the BBC report, Lutnick confirmed he visited Epstein's private island in 2012, contradicting previous claims that he had cut ties with the sex offender years earlier, before he was convicted.

"I did have lunch with him as I was on a boat going across on a family vacation," Lutnick said, when testified on Capital Hill. "My wife was with me, as were my four children and nannies… We had lunch on the island. That is true. For an hour." Correspondence about the visit was included in Epstein documents released by the US Department of Justice, the BBC reported.

The development follows a series of Western political figures being grilled over links to Epstein. In Washington, several lawmakers demanded Lutnick's resignation. Republican Representative Thomas Massie urged him to step down over the weekend after emails alluding to meetings with Epstein were released. Democratic Representative Ro Khanna joined the call on Monday, according to the Associated Press.

Despite ongoing political pressure, some US media outlets claimed the likelihood of Lutnick's resignation remains slim. Politico, in a report titled "The White House is shrugging at Lutnick's Epstein ties. His foes are too," cited multiple individuals close to the White House as saying Lutnick is unlikely to be forced to step down. 

Comparing the political fallout in Europe with the US response, Politico wrote that "In the US government, the consequences for a relationship with Epstein are few and far between."

The AP noted that in countries such as the UK, the Epstein files have triggered resignations and the stripping of royal privileges, while US officials have not met the same level of retribution. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Tuesday that Lutnick "remains a very important member of President Trump's team, and the president fully supports the secretary," according to AP.

Chinese experts said the Epstein scandal-related case once again exposes how certain elite groups in the US appear to stand above the law, disregarding public outcry and displaying moral decay and corruption.

"To date, there has been no substantive judicial action in the US to convict any politicians involved in these cases, despite widespread public reaction," Jin Canrong, a professor at the School of International Studies at the Renmin University of China, told the Global Times. "This is indeed puzzling," he said.

Systemic corruption

The latest disclosures mark the largest release to date of materials related to Epstein by the US Department of Justice, reportedly including three million pages of documents, 2,000 videos and 180,000 images. These files detail Epstein's connections with numerous Western elites, including business figures such as Elon Musk, Sergey Brin and Bill Gates and political figures including Steve Bannon, Bill Clinton and Lutnick, as well as academics.

The controversy surrounding the Epstein files highlights structural corruption in US politics and the judicial system, Wang Yiwei, a professor at the School of International Studies at the Renmin University of China, told the Global Times on Wednesday. 

Wang cited remarks made in an interview by the ex-girlfriend of former UK prince Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, who also appeared in the Epstein files, saying that for powerful elites in Europe and the US, "If you're not in those [Epstein] files, it would be an insult, because it just means that you are a bit of a loser." For some in Western high society, appearing in the Epstein files may not even be seen as particularly shameful, Wang said.

While US politicians implicated in the files have largely sought to distance themselves, the case has triggered political tremors in Europe. According to CNBC, the release of further Epstein files last week left UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer fighting for his political future, despite having no direct connection to Epstein. CNBC claimed that Starmer is under pressure over his decision to appoint Peter Mandelson as US ambassador despite awareness of Mandelson's links to Epstein.

King Charles III has publicly expressed support for police as they consider allegations against his brother, former prince Andrew, the BBC reported on Tuesday.

Yet in the US, what many observers describe as the "epicenter" of the scandal, political repercussions are so far limited. 

Li Haidong, a professor at China Foreign Affairs University, told the Global Times that in the US, legal constraints often apply more strictly to ordinary citizens than to elite groups.

"The Epstein case merely underscores longstanding dysfunction within the US accountability system," Li said. From the fabricated claims of weapons of mass destruction preceding the Iraq war to the 2008 financial crisis, senior US officials have rarely borne substantive responsibility, he added.

US news outlet Axios also wrote that "the fallout from the release of the Epstein files has become a stress test for accountability among Western elites and their governments - and has exposed a stark contrast between how the US and its allies approach reputational blows."

While Li noted that European systems tend to let public opinion swiftly penalize moral failings, he characterized the American landscape as one where such scandals are cyclical, entrenched by the judiciary and political machinery. In the US, he predicted, cases like the Epstein files "surely will happen again."

That reality seemed to hang over the hearing even as Lutnick sought to close the book on his own involvement, claimed to lawmakers firmly on Tuesday, "I have nothing to hide, absolutely nothing."