U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick‘s time in the role could be significantly shortened … because he’s back in the crosshairs of Congress after a photo of him and Jeffrey Epstein together was restored to the Department of Justice’s website.

The photo captures Epstein — clad in a white T-shirt and matching pants — cracking a grin with a group of dudes standing on a cliff overlooking the ocean.

In the middle, there’s a man in a bright blue button-down shirt and shorts with his hands behind his back … that’s Lutnick — and this photo was reportedly taken on Epstein’s infamous island, Little St. James in the U.S. Virgin Islands.

The photo was originally released as part of the DOJ’s massive dump of files at the end of January, according to CBS News … though it was later removed by the DOJ. The department restored the photo Thursday.

Lutnick says he, his wife and their four kids planned a trip to Little St. James in 2012. In front of a congressional committee hearing, Lutnick claimed his family was only on the island for an hour, for a picnic, and it was a group trip where nothing untoward happened.

Worth noting … Secretary Lutnick once claimed he had nothing to do with Jeffrey Epstein –who was his neighbor in New York City — after 2005. However, emails released in the Epstein files show Lutnick reached out to him as recently as 2018. Lutnick is not being accused of any wrongdoing in connection to Epstein.