The top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee drew criticism from President Donald Trump and the White House on Tuesday after dismissing a colleague’s text messages with disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein as simply “taking a phone call from her constituent.”
Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) remarked during debate over a resolution to censure Del. Stacey Plaskett (D-U.S. Virgin Islands) for coordinating with Epstein ahead of a Feb. 27, 2019, House Oversight Committee hearing featuring testimony from Michael Cohen, then a former attorney for President Trump.
“They’ve arraigned a Democratic member for taking a phone call from her constituent, Jeffrey Epstein, in the middle of a hearing,” Raskin said during floor debate on the resolution. “And of course, I don’t think there’s any rule here against taking phone calls in a hearing.”
“I still don’t see what the charge is,” Raskin went on, directing his comments toward Republicans. “Where is the ethical transgression? Where is the legal transgression? Are you saying anybody on your side of the aisle who had a phone call with Jeffrey Epstein should be censured? Be careful your answer there, because there’s a lot more that’s about to come out, right? So you should think about what is the principle behind this rush to judge.”
“Jamie Raskin — one of the worst to ever disgrace the halls of Congress — says @StaceyPlaskett was just ‘taking a phone call from her constituent’ when she colluded with a convicted sex offender during a committee hearing,” the White House rapid response X account reacted. “These people are SICK!”
“Why is Raskin trying to downplay his colleague chatting with a convicted sex offender?” asked White House deputy press secretary Abigail Jackson in a separate X post. “Is it because he knows his colleague [House Minority Leader] Hakeem [Jeffries] also wanted dinner with Epstein? Or is it because he’s worried about what else will be revealed about Dems…?”
Other commentators were quick to call out Raskin’s dismissal of Epstein and his defense of Plaskett, with X user Bonchie writing: “Let the person that hasn’t colluded with a convicted sex offender to rig the questions in a hearing cast the first stone.”
Another user, “Western Lensman,” posted side-by-side video on the platform of Raskin accusing Trump during a recent CNN appearance of “changing the subject from a different form of crime, which is child sex trafficking, which Jeffrey Epstein was a mastermind of … Donald Trump’s name apparently appears throughout the Epstein files.”
Independent journalist Lee Fang, who has reported extensively on professional ties between Epstein and Plaskett, said Raskin’s characterization was “incredibly dishonest.”
“Plaskett helped Epstein while serving in the Virgin Islands gov w/ tax credits, went on to work directly for Epstein’s fixer, then received lavish campaign support from Epstein and his aides to clinch her election victory [in 2014],” he posted on X.
The motion to censure Plaskett and remove her from the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence failed by a vote of 214–209.
Earlier on Tuesday, the House voted 427–1 to require the Justice Department to release all of its files related to Jeffrey Epstein, who was arrested on federal sex-trafficking charges in July 2019 — less than six months after communicating with Plaskett — and was found dead in his Manhattan jail cell on Aug. 10, 2019, while awaiting trial.
Copies of the exchanges between Epstein and Plaskett, a non-voting delegate representing the U.S. Virgin Islands, were part of a cache of 20,000 documents from Epstein’s estate released by the House Oversight Committee on Nov. 12.
In the messages, Epstein advised Plaskett on how to frame her questioning of Michael Cohen, at one point telling her that the former president’s then-attorney “opened the door to questions re who are the other henchmen at [the] Trump Org.”
“Yup. Very aware and waiting my turn,” she responded, according to the New York Post.
