Count Del. Stacey Plaskett of the U.S. Virgin Islands as the latest Democratic collateral damage in the Democrats’ ongoing efforts to make Jeffrey Epstein a Republican problem.
Plaskett, who has represented the American territory since 2015, was nearly censured by the House of Representatives on Tuesday after it was revealed that she texted with Epstein during a 2019 congressional hearing in which Donald Trump’s disgraced former lawyer, Michael Cohen, was being questioned.
The text was in documents released by the House Oversight Committee last week — first in a selective leak by Democrats, then in a wider batch of documents released by Republicans.
The first leak, which consisted of three emails that mentioned President Trump, seemed to indicate he knew more about the victims of Epstein’s sexual trafficking than he has let on. The president has maintained that the two knew each other on the social circuit but had a falling-out in the early 2000s.
The redacted name in the 2011 email, however, turned out to be that of the late Epstein victim Virginia Giuffre — who said Trump was not among the men involved in the abuse and was vociferous about those who were. (Cough, cough, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, cough.)
The Democrats were off and running with their new strategy, however — which was to drop the Epstein scandal at the doorstep of 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. If they end up getting it there (spoiler alert: they won’t) they’ll certainly have run it into a number of prominent Democrats on the way there.
I assume they did the math and figured the people who might end up getting dinged by their Epstein connections — Bill Clinton, Bill Gates, Larry Summers — were pretty much irrelevant. That was some pretty erroneous math. From The Washington Post on Friday:
The newly released documents from Jeffrey Epstein’s estate show that the convicted sex offender texted with a Democratic member of Congress, Del. Stacey Plaskett of the U.S. Virgin Islands, during a congressional hearing with Michael Cohen, and that those text messages may have influenced the congresswoman’s questions of Cohen, President Donald Trump’s former personal attorney and fixer.
In the texts, Epstein appeared to be watching the February 2019 hearing in real time and at one point informed Plaskett — whose name is redacted from the documents — that Cohen had brought up former Trump executive assistant Rhona Graff in his testimony. At the time, Cohen was testifying before the House Oversight Committee against his former boss, alleging that Trump was racist, manipulated financial records and directed hush money payments to cover up his extramarital affairs — allegations Trump denied. The president said on social media that Cohen was “lying” before testimony began.
“Cohen brought up RONA – keeper of the secrets,” Epstein texted, misspelling Graff’s first name.
“RONA??” Plaskett responded. “Quick I’m up next is that an acronym,” she added, suggesting she would question Cohen soon.
“That’s his assistant,” Epstein replied.
Whoops. And lest you think that this isn’t a big deal because Plaskett is a non-voting member of the House, keep in mind that she 1) is the sitting member of the jurisdiction where “Lolita Island” was located, and 2) she made history as an impeachment manager in the second impeachment trial against then-former President Trump in 2021.
🚨 BREAKING: House Republicans file resolution censuring and INVESTIGATING Democrat member of Congress Stacey Plaskett due to her collusion with Jeffrey Epstein to hurt Donald Trump in 2019
It would also strip her of committees.
She was coached by Epstein. Don’t let the Left… pic.twitter.com/Yo33wO5ZQe
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) November 18, 2025
A censure vote failed narrowly on Tuesday, 214-213.
🚨BREAKING: House votes to CENSURE
Stacey Plaskett for her collusion with Epstein.— Spencer Hakimian (@SpencerHakimian) November 18, 2025
The victory was rather hollow, however, as more Democrats kept getting ensnared in the attempt to smear the president — including House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries:
🚨 HOLY CRAP! House Oversight Chair @JamesComer just EXPOSED Hakeem Jeffries on the House floor for soliciting a MEETING and donations from Jeffrey Epstein — even AFTER Epstein was a convicted s*x predator
This Epstein thing going to backfire MASSIVELY on the Democrats.… pic.twitter.com/QPDFuSPOww
— Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) November 18, 2025
This is less incriminating than texting with a convicted sex offender running a personal sex abuse Eden on a private island in your district during a congressional hearing, mind you, but it’s still not a good look — and makes you wonder how long the Democrats want to go on with this.
Should Plaskett be not only censured by removed from Congress for secretly allowing a convicted sex offender to help her question a witness?
Because, keep in mind, that’s just from the texts and emails. Now that Congress has voted to release the full tranche of documents, who knows what’s next? I can bet what’s not next: Trump actually being implicated in untoward behavior.
For the better part of a decade now, the left has been trying to tie Trump to Epstein in a more substantive way than what the president has consistently and persistently said about their relationship: They knew each other until well before Epstein’s conviction, and Trump broke with Epstein because of his creepiness.
In exchange for three emails doctored via redactions to load them with insinuations that couldn’t be borne out, the Democrats have gotten themselves far more deeply dug in than they would like. Almost all of the politicos this has affected have been on their side, after all. It’s not just the Bill Clintons and Larry Summerses of the world that are feeling the pain, either. Del. Plaskett and House Minority Leader Jeffries will end up having to answer for their connections with the disgraced financier, too. Great work, everyone.
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