The top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee drew criticism from President Donald Trump and the White House on Tuesday after dismissing a colleague\u2019s text messages with disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein as simply \u201ctaking a phone call from her constituent.\u201d<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019ve arraigned a Democratic member for taking a phone call from her constituent, Jeffrey Epstein, in the middle of a hearing,\u201d Raskin said during floor debate on the resolution. \u201cAnd of course, I don\u2019t think there\u2019s any rule here against taking phone calls in a hearing.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI still don\u2019t see what the charge is,\u201d Raskin went on, directing his comments toward Republicans. \u201cWhere 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\u2019s a lot more that\u2019s about to come out, right? So you should think about what is the principle behind this rush to judge.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cJamie Raskin \u2014 one of the worst to ever disgrace the halls of Congress \u2014 says @StaceyPlaskett was just \u2018taking a phone call from her constituent\u2019 when she colluded with a convicted sex offender during a committee hearing,\u201d the White House rapid\u00a0response X account reacted. \u201cThese people are SICK!\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy is Raskin trying to downplay his colleague chatting with a convicted sex offender?\u201d asked White House deputy press secretary Abigail Jackson in a separate X post. \u201cIs it because he knows his colleague [House Minority Leader] Hakeem [Jeffries] also wanted dinner with Epstein? Or is it because he\u2019s worried about what else will be revealed about Dems\u2026?\u201d<\/p>\n
Other commentators were quick to call out Raskin\u2019s dismissal of Epstein and his defense of Plaskett, with\u00a0X user Bonchie writing: \u201cLet the person that hasn\u2019t colluded with a convicted sex offender to rig the questions in a hearing cast the first stone.\u201d<\/p>\n
Another user, \u201cWestern Lensman,\u201d posted\u00a0side-by-side video\u00a0on the platform of Raskin accusing Trump during a recent CNN appearance of \u201cchanging the subject from a different form of crime, which is child sex trafficking, which Jeffrey Epstein was a mastermind of \u2026 Donald Trump\u2019s name apparently appears throughout the Epstein files.\u201d<\/p>\n
Independent journalist Lee Fang, who has reported extensively on professional ties between Epstein and Plaskett, said Raskin\u2019s characterization was \u201cincredibly dishonest.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cPlaskett helped Epstein while serving in the Virgin Islands gov w\/ tax credits, went on to work directly for Epstein\u2019s fixer, then received lavish campaign support from Epstein and his aides to clinch her election victory [in 2014],\u201d\u00a0he posted on X.<\/p>\n
The motion to censure Plaskett and remove her from the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence failed by a vote of 214\u2013209.<\/p>\n
Earlier on Tuesday, the House voted 427\u20131 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 \u2014 less than six months after communicating with Plaskett \u2014 and was found dead in his Manhattan jail cell on Aug. 10, 2019, while awaiting trial.<\/p>\n
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\u2019s estate released by the House Oversight Committee on Nov. 12.<\/p>\n
In the messages, Epstein advised Plaskett on how to frame her questioning of Michael Cohen, at one point telling her that the former president\u2019s then-attorney \u201copened the door to questions re who are the other henchmen at [the] Trump Org.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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