Democrat Faces Backlash Over Epstein Donation Claims
Texas Democrat Jasmine Crockett has responded to accusations that she wrongly implicated Republican politicians in receiving money from Jeffrey Epstein by claiming her research was conducted under extreme time pressure. The liberal congresswoman came under fire after defending fellow Democrat Stacey Plaskett during a House censure debate by citing several GOP figures who had allegedly accepted donations from someone named Jeffrey Epstein.
The Controversial Defence Strategy
Crockett specifically named Mitt Romney, George Bush, the 2008 McCain/Palin campaign and Lee Zeldin as having received contributions from a donor sharing the infamous financier's name. However, former Congressman Lee Zeldin, now heading the Environmental Protection Agency, swiftly countered her claims. 'Yes Crockett, a physician named Dr. Jeffrey Epstein donated to a prior campaign of mine. No freakin' relation you genius!' he declared in a sharp rebuttal.
The Jeffrey Epstein who contributed to Zeldin's campaign was clearly identified as a Long Island doctor in Federal Election Commission filings, and crucially, the donations occurred after the convicted sex trafficker had died in prison in 2019. This factual discrepancy undermined Crockett's attempt to draw connections between Republican figures and the disgraced financier.
CNN Confrontation and Justification
Facing tough questioning from CNN's Kaitlan Collins, Crockett defended her actions by explaining she had only 20 minutes to prepare her defence of Plaskett during the House censure proceedings. 'I never said that it was that Jeffrey Epstein,' she maintained. 'Because they decided to spring this on us in real time, I wanted Republicans to think about what could potentially happen because I knew they didn't even try to go through the FEC.'
The congresswoman revealed her team had simply Googled recipients of donations from anyone named Jeffrey Epstein during the limited preparation window. She insisted she hadn't intended to mislead anyone, stating: 'Unlike Republicans, I at least don't go out and just tell lies. Because it was not the same one, that's fine, but when Lee Zeldin has something to say all he had to say was it was a different Jeffrey Epstein.'
Zeldin delivered a devastating response, highlighting that the public FEC records clearly showed the donation dates post-dated Epstein's death. 'When you find yourself in a hole, it's best to stop digging,' he advised. 'The public FEC report Crockett referenced on the House floor very clearly states that the Jeffrey Epstein who donated to my past campaign was a physician, and the donation date was well AFTER the other Jeffrey Epstein WAS ALREADY DEAD!!!'
Plaskett's Epstein Communications Defended
The entire controversy emerged from Crockett's defence of Stacey Plaskett, the US Virgin Islands delegate who faced censure over her 2019 text message exchanges with Jeffrey Epstein during a congressional hearing. Plaskett narrowly avoided formal reprimanding when the House voted 214-209 against censure, largely because Democratic colleagues like Crockett refused to abandon her.
In a subsequent CNN interview, Plaskett faced intense questioning about why she communicated with Epstein when he was already a known sex offender, having pleaded guilty to state prostitution charges in 2008. The delegate defended her actions by comparing Epstein to other questionable sources she had utilised as a prosecutor. 'I've interviewed confidential informants, I've interviewed narcotics, drug traffickers and others,' she explained. 'That doesn't mean that I'm their friend. It means that they have information that I need and that I'm trying to get at the truth.'
When pressed by CNN's Pamela Brown about whether she regretted the decision, Plaskett repeatedly avoided direct answers, instead emphasising she was 'moving forward' from the controversy. The texts revealed Epstein, who was a Virgin Islands resident at the time, had alerted Plaskett about one of Trump's former executive assistants during the hearing involving Michael Cohen.
The Washington Post originally uncovered the communications after Plaskett's name was redacted from released emails, with her office later confirming the authenticity of the texts. The controversy represents another chapter in the ongoing political fallout from associations with Jeffrey Epstein, whose August 2019 death in a Manhattan correctional centre continues to generate political and legal repercussions.
