A report reveals Jeffrey Epstein texted a Democratic lawmaker before the 2019 Michael Cohen hearing, advising her on what questions to pose to Trump’s ex-fixer.
According to the Washington Post, Stacey Plaskett, the non-voting delegate from the U.S. Virgin Islands, seemed to be corresponding with the late disgraced financier during the Trump hearing in February 2019. In one letter, she asked Epstein for advice. The Post was informed by her staff that she had received texts from Epstein.
Although her name is blacked, the messages were part of the 20,000 papers that the House Oversight Committee made public this week.
The text messages' date and content, however, match the queries she posed to the oversight committee during Cohen's testimony against Trump.
Cohen accused his former employer of financial malfeasance and ordering hush-money payments to conceal his extramarital affairs throughout the hearing.
“Cohen brought up RONA - keeper of the secrets,”
Epstein texted, according to the documents, referring to Trump’s former executive assistant Rhona Graff.
“RONA??”
the person believed to be Plaskett replied.
“Quick I’m up next is that an acronym,”
the message said, suggesting that she was due to question Cohen next.
“That’s his assistant,”
Epstein appeared to confirm.
Epstein was a known convicted sex offender at the time of the hearing, having entered a guilty plea to state charges in Florida in 2008 of soliciting prostitution from a minor, even though he wasn't arrested until July 2019 on federal sex trafficking charges.
Epstein was connected to several public people in the U.S. Virgin Islands. According to a 2023 Business Insider report, he lived mostly on the island of Little Saint James and gave money to politicians, including Plaskett.
Plaskett's office told the Post that during the hearing, she got messages from "staff, constituents and the public at large offering advice, support and in some cases partisan vitriol, including from Epstein."
“As a former prosecutor she welcomes information that helps her get at the truth and took on the GOP that was trying to bury the truth,”
the statement said.
“The congresswoman has previously made clear her long record combating sexual assault and human trafficking, her disgust over Epstein’s deviant behavior and her support for his victims.”
According to the records, Epstein reportedly sent Plaskett a message during the hearing complimenting her attire and inquiring as to if she was chewing.
One of the House impeachment managers who brought the incitement
case against Trump at his Senate trial in 2021 was Plaskett.
How has the lawmaker responded to claims she texted with Epstein?
The discovery of this communication between Epstein and a sitting Democrat legislator during such a high- profile hail adds an instigative dimension to the ongoing scrutiny of Epstein’s influence and networks. The legislator’s name was redacted in the original documents but time prints and content explosively suggest it was Plaskett.
Statements from affiliated political sources emphasize the politically charged nature of the claims, framing them within broader prejudiced controversies over Epstein's connections. still, Plaskett has not intimately developed or clarified her involvement with Epstein’s textbooks during the hail.
Delegate Stacey Plaskett has not formally responded to or clarified claims that she communicated by textbook with Jeffrey Epstein during the 2019 Michael Cohen hail, leaving the issue undetermined intimately.