WASHINGTON — Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick traveled to sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein’s notorious “pedophile island” in 2012, emails released Friday by the Justice Department indicate.

The communications describe Lutnick’s plan to visit with his own family and family friends, with eight children in the group, suggesting he wasn’t partaking in Epstein’s perverted pastimes.

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“Does Sunday evening for dinner sound good? I have another couple (Michael and Marcy Lehrman) with me on my boat, and each of us has 4 children- two 16’s, two 14’s, a 13, a 12, an 11, and a 7-year old.”

Epstein, who was Lutnick’s neighbor in Manhattan, replied: “come sat or sunday lunch? little st james on the map, behind christmans cove.”

Lutnick confirmed: “OK, lunch on Sunday. See you then.”

A subsequent message, whose sender and recipient were blacked out in the documents, said: “December 20, 2012 1:00 PM : can Howard Lutnick do lunch Sat or Sun on JE’s island?”

On Dec. 24, 2012, an individual whose name was redacted by the government wrote to Lutnick: “Good morning Howard. Jeffrey wished me to pass along the below to you: Nice seeing you. Please read #2 dot three.”

Lutnick told The Post last year that Epstein, who died in 2019, was the “greatest blackmailer ever” and that they broke off contact around 2005 — saying he and his wife Allison decided to “never be in a room with that disgusting person ever again” after Epstein boasted about sexual massages in his townhouse.

The commerce secretary told the New York Times on Friday that “I spent zero time with him.”

Other emails in the trove — released by the Justice Department in compliance with a law passed by Congress — indicate Lutnick interacted on other occasions with Epstein.

The records suggest Lutnick, at the time chairman of finance powerhouse Cantor Fitzgerald, and Epstein had a phone call in April 2011 and drinks in May 2011.

Other documents released by the Justice Department include FBI forms from 2020 and 2021 alleging a suspicious financial relationship between the neighbors.

A Commerce Department spokesman said Friday night that news outlets were wrong to focus on mentions of Lutnick in the files.

“This is nothing more than a failing attempt by the legacy media to distract from the administration’s accomplishments including securing Trillions of dollars in investment, delivering historic trade deals and fighting for the American worker,” the spokesman said.

“Secretary Lutnick had limited interactions with Mr. Epstein in the presence of his wife and has never been accused of wrongdoing. “