President Trump’s late-night calling habits are once more drawing attention in the West Wing, with Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick among the president’s most frequent nighttime interlocutors. A wide-ranging New Yorker profile by Antonia Hitchens reports that the two regularly speak around 1 a.m., often about both important matters and trivialities.
The 79-year-old president has long been known for getting by on little sleep, and his habit of ringing allies, Cabinet officials and TV personalities around midnight has continued into his second term. Lutnick, 64, told the magazine that the calls happen “just after Lutnick gets in bed,” creating an image of the commerce secretary receiving nightly calls from the leader of the free world.
Inside the 1 a.m. Ritual
Sometimes the conversations move into “real stuff,” Lutnick said, including serious trade topics such as tariffs on Canadian steel. More often, however, the talk drifts to everyday matters.
It is not clear who initiates the calls, but the pattern mirrors a first-term habit: a 2018 New York magazine piece described Trump frequently phoning Fox News host Sean Hannity after his show and the pair “gabbing like old girlfriends” about ratings, the press and Trump’s opponents. Lutnick conceded that “Trump has other people he calls late at night,” but would not provide names.
From “Buffoon” to Cabinet Confidant
Lutnick’s shift from doubter to close advisor is notable. The former Cantor Fitzgerald chairman and CEO told an acquaintance in 2016 he thought Trump was a “buffoon” and that year gave to Hillary Clinton. By 2020 he had switched to backing Trump over Biden, and by 2024 he was one of the campaign’s top fundraisers before being chosen to co-chair the presidential transition.
He was sworn in as Commerce Secretary in February 2025, after an unsuccessful bid to land the more sought-after Treasury position ultimately awarded to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. Lutnick now presents himself as Trump’s chief dealmaker, telling the magazine he is “experienced in business in the way none of these people are—except Donald Trump.”
Allies claim he aims to be the most impactful commerce secretary since Herbert Hoover in the 1920s. Critics inside the administration are less flattering. One official described him as “an errand boy,” while another said Bessent’s role in the Cabinet “reassures us there is someone smart looking out for us.”
Tariff Turmoil and Capitol Hill Stumbles
The friendship has not protected Lutnick from the president’s fury. After Trump announced a universal 10-percent tariff and several “reciprocal” tariffs on April 2, 2025 — a rollout he framed as a way to “Liberate America” — the math behind the proposal faced intense questioning. Trump phoned Lutnick angrily, demanding an explanation of how the numbers were derived. Lutnick did not have a clear answer but was sent on TV to defend them nonetheless.
His public showings have been inconsistent. At an April 22, 2026, Senate Appropriations subcommittee hearing, Lutnick was criticized by lawmakers over the administration’s trade strategy. The next day, April 23, he endured further scrutiny from a House Appropriations subcommittee, where Democrats questioned him on tariffs and his connections to Jeffrey Epstein — scrutiny that led to a voluntary transcribed interview set before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform on May 6. On April 24 he appeared before another House panel to request more trade-enforcement funding.
Lutnick has also been a prominent public advocate for Trump’s Gold Card visa initiative, though as of his Hill testimony only a single applicant had been approved.
On April 30, Senators Elizabeth Warren and Ron Wyden wrote to Lutnick and Tether CEO Paulo Ardoino seeking documents tied to reports that the crypto firm extended large loans to a trust benefiting Lutnick’s children, loans connected to his divestment from Cantor Fitzgerald. “We want to ensure that Tether has not sought to bribe or otherwise exert control or influence over you,” the senators wrote.
A Washington Power Player
Lutnick and his wife, Allison, have established deep roots in Washington, purchasing Fox News anchor Bret Baier’s home for $25 million and filling it with works by Mark Rothko, Willem de Kooning and other prominent artists. Last week the president joined a private dinner there for Lutnick’s birthday.
Despite their wealth and closeness to power, the profile implies both men occupy an unusual social position: extremely wealthy yet “never granted access to the most rarefied Manhattan circles.” A source near Lutnick bluntly compared perceptions: in the heartland Trump and Lutnick are celebrated as shining successes, while at New York cocktail parties they prompt eye rolls.
The commerce secretary, who once participated in a Celebrity Apprentice charity auction, says he understands Trump better than anyone. “I know him so well that I know where the puck is going,” he asserted. Whether that insight will produce policy victories, or merely more 1 a.m. calls, remains the question troubling supporters and detractors on Capitol Hill.
