WASHINGTON — In a stunning public rift within the Trump administration, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has blasted FBI Director Kash Patel for downplaying Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking network, insisting the late financier was a master blackmailer who filmed his victims for leverage against powerful friends.

Lutnick’s explosive claims, shared on the New York Post’s Pod Force One podcast, directly contradict Patel’s recent Senate testimony and have reignited calls for full disclosure of Epstein’s files amid ongoing congressional battles.

Lutnick, a longtime Trump ally and former neighbor of Epstein in New York City, didn’t hold back while recounting a tour of the financier’s Manhattan apartment.

“Massage table in the middle of your house? How often do you have a massage?” Lutnick recalled asking Epstein, who replied, “Every day.” Epstein then leaned in, adding, “And the right kind of massage.”

Lutnick painted a sinister picture: “They get a massage, that’s what his M.O. was. ‘Get a massage, get a massage,’ and what happened in that massage room, I assume, was on video.”

The Commerce chief went further, alleging Epstein’s operation was a blackmail goldmine, stating, “This guy was the greatest blackmailer ever. That’s how he had money,” Lutnick said.

He speculated that Epstein traded those videos for his controversial 2008 plea deal, which let him serve just 18 months for soliciting a minor for prostitution—with work release allowing daytime office visits.

“I assume way back when they traded those videos in exchange for him getting that 18-month sentence, which allowed him to have visits and be out of jail… There must have been a trade. So, my assumption, I have no knowledge, but my assumption is there was a trade for the videos, because there were people on those videos.”

Lutnick even hinted at Epstein’s elite circle getting hands-on: Some associates “would have participated” in the massage room activities, he suggested. His comments drew a swift denial from Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates’ spokesperson, who called the implication “absolutely false” and clarified that Gates met Epstein solely for philanthropy discussions.

FBI Director Kash Patel Digresses

Patel’s take couldn’t be more different.

During a September Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, Republican Sen. John Kennedy pressed the FBI director on Epstein’s network.

Patel shot back, stating, “If there were, I would bring the case yesterday that he trafficked to other individuals.” He insisted, “There is no credible information” linking Epstein to trafficking young women to friends or associates.

The clash exploded just as Epstein’s victims fired back at Patel in a joint statement to CNN’s Jake Tapper. “Even the limited information that has been made public includes accounts such as Virginia Giuffre’s report that Epstein trafficked her to other individuals besides himself,” they wrote.

They highlighted FBI reports from witness interviews naming “at least 20 other men they were trafficked to,” slamming Patel for not reviewing the files himself or speaking to survivors. “Those previous administrations are the ones that Kash Patel spent years accusing of a cover-up,” the victims added. “Now he will pass the buck to them to decide that information about other men in the Epstein-Maxwell trafficking ring is not even worth following up on?”

Why Do the Epstein Files Continue to Get Pushed Away?

Epstein’s 2008 Florida deal, brokered under then-U.S. Attorney Alex Acosta (later Trump’s Labor Secretary), has long been decried as a miscarriage of justice.

It shielded Epstein and potential co-conspirators from federal charges despite evidence of abusing dozens of underage girls.

Epstein died by suicide in 2019 while awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking counts, and his accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell is serving 20 years for grooming minors — though she has been transferred to a low security prison after meeting with the Trump Administration earlier this year.

The DOJ and FBI have repeatedly denied the existence of a so-called “client list,” but pressure is mounting.

A bipartisan House discharge petition has hit 218 signatures, teeing up a floor vote to force the release of all Epstein files with victim protections.

Trump, who once called Epstein a “terrific guy” in 2002, has dismissed the push as a “Democrat hoax” despite campaigning on transparency.

Lutnick’s podcast bombshell—aired days before the White House hosts Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu—exposes deepening fault lines in Trump’s inner circle.

As Commerce Secretary, Lutnick oversees trade and economic policy, but his Epstein anecdotes feel like a grenade lobbed into the FBI’s lap.

For survivors still seeking justice, the infighting is a grim sideshow.

And for the American people, it’s beginning to feel like the Trump Administration is becoming compromised.

With midterms looming and files on the brink of sunlight, Lutnick’s words could tip the scales—or just add more fuel to a fire that’s burned for years.

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Also Read: Senator Cruz Calls for Bipartisan Effort to Stop Pedophiles

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