Lawmakers from both political parties are urging Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick to step down from his position after records in the Justice Department’s files related to Jeffrey Epstein uncovered new details about the scope of Lutnick’s connection to the deceased convicted sex offender. 

Communications between Lutnick and Epstein—once neighbors on Manhattan’s Upper East Side—included in the released documents indicate that over at least 13 years, the two men communicated regularly and seem to have socialized in New York and the Caribbean, conflicting with Lutnick’s prior claims that he severed ties with Epstein in 2005, as reported by the New York Times. Among the records are multiple exchanges between the men or their assistants that took place years after Epstein was convicted of soliciting prostitution involving a minor in 2008, including emails where Lutnick appeared to plan a visit to Epstein’s private island in 2012. Other documents show they both agreed to invest in the now-defunct advertising technology company AdFin in late 2012.

Following reports detailing the revelations about Lutnick’s links to Epstein in the documents—part of a larger collection of over 3 million pages of files released late last month—Republican Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky called for the Commerce Secretary to resign on Sunday. 

“Frankly, he should make things easier for the president and simply resign,” Massie, who co-authored the law that mandated the release of all government files related to Epstein, told . The Kentucky lawmaker added that “if this were Great Britain, he’d already be gone,” referencing the fallout in the United Kingdom over the files, where Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, formerly Prince Andrew, was stripped of his titles and Peter Mandelson was removed from his role as the U.K. ambassador to the U.S. after disclosures about their associations with Epstein.

“Secretary Howard Lutnick lied to the country about his ties to Epstein,” Democratic Sen. Adam Schiff of California on X the next day. “Now we know they were in business together. He has no place serving as our Commerce Secretary. He should resign.”

Another California Democrat, Rep. Robert Garcia, the ranking member of the House Oversight Committee, went further in a Sunday , writing that “Lutnick must resign or be fired.”

“And he must answer our questions,” Garcia added.

A spokesperson for the Commerce Department told TIME in a statement that “Mr. and Mrs. Lutnick met Jeffrey Epstein in 2005 and had very limited interactions with him over the following 14 years.”

“This is nothing more than a failed attempt by legacy media to divert attention from the administration’s achievements, including securing trillions in investment, delivering historic trade deals, and advocating for the American worker,” the department said.

Lutnick previously stated in an interview on the “” podcast last year that he “was never in the room” with Epstein “socially, for business, or even philanthropy” after a visit to the financier’s townhouse in 2005 left Lutnick finding him “disgusting.”

However, correspondence in the newly released files suggests Lutnick planned a visit to Epstein’s private island, Little St. James, off the coast of St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands in December 2012—four years after Epstein’s conviction on prostitution charges. 

On Nov. 20 that year, Epstein’s assistant to Lutnick, , “Jeffrey Epstein understands you’ll be in St. Thomas during the holidays. Jeffrey asked me to pass along some phone numbers so the two of you might meet up.”

The following month, Lutnick sent an to a recipient whose name was redacted in the released document, appearing to arrange a visit. “Hi Jeff,” the Dec. 20, 2012, message reads. “We’re landing in St. Thomas early Saturday afternoon and plan to head to St. Bart’s/Anguilla by Monday. Where are you located (exact location for my captain)? Does Sunday evening for dinner work?”

A from Epstein, passed to Lutnick by his assistant days later, reading “Nice seeing you,” suggests the trip occurred. 

Other documents in the released files show Lutnick and Epstein planned to in May 2011 and that Lutnick Epstein to a “very =ntimate fundraising event with Hilary Clinton” in November 2015, among other engagements.

Republican Rep. James Comer of Kentucky, the chair of the House Oversight Committee, did not rule out issuing a subpoena to Lutnick in the panel’s Epstein investigation when speaking to reporters on Monday.

“We want to speak with anyone who might have information to help us seek justice for the survivors,” Comer said.