House Republicans introduced a resolution Tuesday to censure and strip a key committee assignment from Del. Stacey Plaskett (D), the nonvoting delegate representing the U.S. Virgin Islands, for texting with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein during a 2019 congressional hearing, an exchange that was included in the recently released trove of documents from Epstein’s estate.
A Washington Post analysis of the texts, matched up with time-stamps from the hearing, showed that Epstein appeared to be watching in real time as Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump’s formal personal attorney and fixer, was testifying before the House Oversight Committee about Trump. According to the documents released, Epstein and Plaskett texted throughout the day, and their messages indicate Epstein may have influenced what questions to ask Cohen.
Rep. Ralph Norman (R-South Carolina), who introduced the resolution to censure Plaskett, said it was “beyond comprehension” that Plaskett would coordinate with Epstein on official proceedings. If passed, the resolution would direct the House Ethics Committee to investigate the extent of Plaskett’s relationship with Epstein and remove her from the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.
“The American people expect honesty, the American people expect integrity and judgment from their elected officials. They expect members of Congress to conduct themselves with one word — decency — not to seek advice from a predator who exploited minor children,” Norman said on the House floor Tuesday.
Norman told The Washington Post that Plaskett also should have her security clearances revoked. Beyond that, he suggested that the voters in the U.S. Virgin Islands would have to decide whether she should be removed from office.
“The censure’s the first step,” Norman said. “Ultimately, she’ll be judged in the Virgin Islands..”
A vote on the resolution is expected Tuesday night, after an effort by Democrats to refer the resolution to the House Ethics Committee narrowly failed on a 213-214 vote.
Plaskett defended herself Tuesday, saying she had started to receive “innumerable texts” after the hearing started, including from Epstein, whom she described as her constituent. She pushed back on the idea that she was taking advice from Epstein on how to question Cohen.
“Let me tell you something. I don’t need to get advice on how to question anybody from any individual. I have been a lawyer for 30 years. … I know how to seek information. I have sought information from confidential informants, from murderers, from other individuals, because I want the truth, not because I need them to tell me what to say,” Plaskett said on the House floor.
The text messages in question, from Feb. 27, 2019, show that Plaskett texted Epstein at 7:55 a.m. Eastern time — before the hearing began — to tell him: “He’ll talk about his grades”
Epstein replied a minute later: “what privilege stands behind the none release of college transcripts?”
They continued texting periodically throughout the day as the hearing was underway. At 12:50 p.m., Epstein asked Plaskett how much longer it would be until it was her turn to question Cohen.
“Hours. Go to other mtgs,” she replied.
“Cohen brought up RONA – keeper of the secrets,” Epstein texted Plaskett at 2:24 p.m., misspelling the first name of former Trump executive assistant Rhona Graff, whom Cohen had mentioned in his testimony.
“RONA??” Plaskett responded. “Quick I’m up next is that an acronym,” she added.
“Thats his assistant,” Epstein replied, two minutes before Plaskett began asking Cohen questions. He wrote back “Good work” at 2:34 p.m., one minute after Plaskett finished her questioning.
Though Epstein would not be charged with federal sex trafficking crimes until July 2019 — several months after the Cohen hearing — he was already a known convicted sex offender, having pleaded guilty in 2008 to state charges in Florida of soliciting prostitution from a minor. Under a plea deal, he spent only 13 months in county jail.
In November 2018, the Miami Herald published an investigation into allegations of Epstein’s serial sex abuse and the handling of his 2008 sentencing agreement. Epstein was arrested in July 2019 on federal sex trafficking charges, accused of sexually abusing dozens of girls in his homes and paying his victims to bring him others. He pleaded not guilty and was found hanging in his Manhattan jail cell in August 2019, his death ruled a suicide.
Epstein had deep ties to the U.S. Virgin Islands, where he formerly owned a pair of private islands, Great Saint James and Little Saint James. His primary residence was on Little Saint James, where, according to a settlement in a lawsuit brought against Epstein’s estate by the U.S. Virgin Islands, “many of his crimes occurred.” A 2023 Business Insider investigation showed that Epstein donated large sums of money to U.S. Virgin Islands politicians, including Plaskett.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-New York) criticized Norman’s resolution as a “partisan” distraction from the near-unanimous vote the House had just taken to compel the Justice Department to release its Epstein files, and several Democrats defended Plaskett’s character.
Other Democrats warned of the precedent the vote would set, noting that Plaskett had not been accused of violating any laws or House rules.
“[The censure resolution is] replete with phrases like ‘this … raises serious questions about the judgment and the integrity and the fitness to serve.’ Well, I think that’s absurd. But in any event, if you think it raises serious questions, presumably you would want the answers to those questions,” said Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Maryland), who noted Plaskett was one of his former law students.
“But you don’t get answers by rushing to judgment and turning the whole process upside down,” he added. “This resolution starts by saying we censure her, we remove her from committee, and the very next component of it says we direct the Committee on Ethics to conduct an investigation. That is the opposite of due process.”
Kadia Goba, Marianna Sotomayor, Aaron Schaffer and Maegan Vazquez contributed to this report.
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