Dr. Mehmet Oz Named in Newly Released Epstein Files Over 2016 Party Invite

Dr. Mehmet Oz, now head of President Donald Trump’s Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, is among the latest names to appear in newly released Epstein files. Documents published by the U.S. Department of Justice indicate that Oz sent a Valentine’s Day party invitation to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein in 2016.

The 2016 Invitation

According to the released email, the invitation was sent to Epstein’s personal inbox on Feb. 1, 2016, with the subject line “Mehmet & Lisa Oz’s Valentines Celebration.”

The event location reportedly matched the address of the home Dr. Oz and his wife Lisa purchased the previous year for $18 million. The invitation was sent through the e-vite platform Paperless Post.

The email was sent years after Epstein pleaded guilty in 2008 to charges including soliciting prostitution and soliciting prostitution from a minor. He served a 13-month jail sentence in Florida.

In 2019, while awaiting trial on federal conspiracy and sex trafficking charges, Epstein was found dead in his jail cell at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York City. His death was ruled a suicide.

Other Trump Administration Officials Scrutinized

Oz is not the only Trump administration official facing renewed scrutiny following the latest batch of Epstein files.

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick was questioned during a Senate hearing about his relationship with Epstein. Newly released emails suggested the two had contact as recently as 2018.

Lutnick told the Senate committee:

“I’m glad to be here to make it clear. I met Jeffrey Epstein when I moved next door to him in New York. Over the next 14 years, I met him two other times that I can recall.”

“Looking at the millions of documents, there may be about 10 emails connecting me with him over a 14-year period. I did not have any relationship with him. I barely had anything to do with that person.”

Lutnick also acknowledged visiting Epstein’s private island, Little Saint James, in the U.S. Virgin Islands in 2012, stating that he was there briefly with his family for lunch.

Vice President JD Vance commented on the release of the files, saying they show “an incestuous nature to America’s elites,” but insisted that President Trump is “very much outside of the social circle.”

Who Is Dr. Mehmet Oz?

Mehmet Cengiz Oz, born June 11, 1960, is a Turkish-American television personality, physician, author, and politician. A graduate of Harvard University and the University of Pennsylvania, Oz became widely known after frequent appearances on The Oprah Winfrey Show and later hosted “The Dr. Oz Show” for 13 seasons.

He served as a professor of cardiothoracic surgery at Columbia University before retiring in 2018. In 2022, he ran as a Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania but lost the election.

In November 2024, President Donald Trump announced Oz as his nominee to lead the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.

Oz is married to Lisa Oz and has four children.

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