In a striking display of political defiance, US Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett has refused to retract or correct her factually incorrect claim that a member of Donald Trump's cabinet accepted donations from the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
A Baseless Accusation on the House Floor
The controversy erupted on November 18, when the 44-year-old Democratic representative from Texas took to the House floor. During the session, Crockett accused Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin, a former Republican congressman from New York, of taking money from Epstein. The accusation was presented as a serious allegation, implying a connection to the infamous financier.
However, the donation records Crockett cited as evidence pertained to a completely different individual who shared the name 'Jeffrey Epstein'. The man in the Federal Election Commission (FEC) documents was not the disgraced financier who died in a Manhattan jail cell in August 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.
Doubling Down in a Bizarre Interview
Given a clear opportunity to set the record straight, Crockett dug in deeper. During an interview on MS NOW's 'The Weekend' programme on Sunday, journalist Jacqueline Alemany explicitly offered the congresswoman a chance to amend her statement.
"You made a little bit of news when you mistakenly accused Lee Zeldin... of accepting money from Jeffrey Epstein. But it was a different Jeffrey Epstein, according to the financial records. I want to give you the opportunity to amend that," Alemany stated.
Crockett's response was unequivocal: "I have no amendments." She then launched into a lengthy justification, arguing that she had only 20 minutes to research the FEC records and that she deliberately used the phrase "a" Jeffrey Epstein to leave the identity ambiguous.
"Oh, I absolutely was insinuating that it could be possible. That is true," Crockett admitted when challenged by Alemany on her implication. "But the point is, I never said it was that specific one, because I did not have the adequate time to do it." She oddly contended that "Jeffrey Epstein' is 'not, like, a normal name."
Political Fallout and Refusal to Clarify
Even when presented with a final, direct question—"But you can agree that Lee Zeldin didn’t receive money from 'the' Jeffrey Epstein"—Crockett avoided a personal affirmation. She instead replied, "I can agree that Lee Zeldin has said that he’s not received money from 'the' Jeffrey Epstein," carefully attributing the denial to Zeldin himself.
The incident has its roots in a heated political environment. Crockett referenced a 2019 hearing where Republicans attempted to link a colleague to Epstein. Her false accusation against Zeldin, made via a social media post that also listed other Republicans like Mitt Romney, was swiftly challenged. Zeldin himself responded critically on the platform X.
This episode marks another chapter in Crockett's rise as an outspoken Trump critic within the Democratic Party. Elected in 2023, she is reportedly ramping up media appearances ahead of a potential Senate run in Texas. The interview was conducted on MS NOW, the newly rebranded channel formerly known as MSNBC, which split from NBCUniversal last month.
The refusal to correct a demonstrably false statement, particularly one linking a political opponent to a figure as notorious as Jeffrey Epstein, underscores the intensely partisan and often unforgiving nature of contemporary US politics, where allegations can spread rapidly before facts are fully established.
