CNN senior political commentator Scott Jennings accused Democrats on Friday of trying to control the narrative surrounding the late child sex predator Jeffrey Epstein, arguing the effort “blew up in their face.”
Jennings made the comments during an appearance on the PBD Podcast with Patrick Bet-David, where he criticized Rep. Jasmine Crockett and other Democrats for their handling of the Epstein issue, Mediaite reported.
Jennings pointed to Crockett’s recent remarks on the House floor in which she claimed “a Jeffrey Epstein” had donated to Republicans like Lee Zeldin, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator.
Crockett quickly learned the donor she referenced was not the late billionaire, who died in 2019 while facing sex trafficking charges.
“She’s the smartest person they could find so they sent her to do this,” Jennings said.
“And the reason is this: because they are desperate to make this a story about President [Donald] Trump and Epstein. And the only thing we found out in the last week is that it’s a story about Democrats and Epstein,” he added. “You got Larry Summers asking for dating advice from Epstein.”
Summers, a former Treasury Secretary under President Bill Clinton, stepped down from a Harvard role after newly released emails showed him seeking dating advice from Epstein from November 2018 to July 2019.
The emails were sent years after Epstein had already registered as a sex offender following his conviction for soliciting a minor for prostitution.
Jennings also called out Del. Stacey Plaskett of the Virgin Islands over her correspondences with Epstein during a 2019 congressional hearing, claiming the billionaire appeared to influence her questioning.
Plaskett, who narrowly avoided House censure, has said she relied on Epstein only for “information.”
“You got Plaskett being programmed by Epstein,” Jennings said.
“They lost the narrative, so they sent out their smartest person, Jasmine Crockett, to try to reset the narrative, and it blew up in their face.”
“They may regret going down this road.”
Crockett’s comments about a donor named Epstein came during the attempt to censure Plaskett.
She defended naming the wrong Epstein by saying her staff did not have time to properly vet the information.
She also argued she never specifically claimed it was the Jeffrey Epstein at the center of the censure effort.
“Listen, I never said that it was that Jeffrey Epstein,” she told CNN. “Just so that people understand, when you make a donation, your picture is not there.”
“And because they decided to spring this on us in real time, I wanted the Republicans to think about what could potentially happen because I knew that they didn’t even try to go through the FEC. So my team, what they did is they Googled. And that is specifically why I said, a, Jeffrey Epstein.”
Attorney General Pam Bondi said Wednesday that the Justice Department will release all unclassified records connected to the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein within 30 days of President Donald Trump signing new disclosure legislation.
Earlier in the day, the Senate formally transmitted the bill to Trump after voting Tuesday night to automatically approve it upon arrival from the House. The House passed the measure Tuesday in a 427–1 vote.
Under the Epstein Files Transparency Act — which Trump has signaled he will sign — Bondi must disclose all documents, including internal communications and investigative materials, related to Epstein and his associate Ghislaine Maxwell within 30 days of the law taking effect.
In 2019, Epstein reportedly committed suicide while in federal custody, as he awaited trial for charges connected to the sex trafficking of minors. Maxwell, having been found guilty of sex trafficking and related offenses, is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence.
“We will follow the law,” Bondi told reporters at a news conference on Wednesday.
“The law passed both chambers last evening. It has not yet been signed, but we will continue to follow the law again while protecting victims but also providing maximum transparency.”
