Democrats stay silent on Stacey Plaskett, an ex-Republican who texted Epstein in Congress

A trove of correspondence from disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, released this month by the House Oversight Committee, has drawn renewed attention to President Donald Trump's years-long relationship with the deceased pedophile. In one email, Epstein described his former friend and future leader of the Republican Party as the worst person he had ever met — "not one decent cell in his body" — and, in another, offered to provide a New York Times reporter photos of Trump with "girls in bikinis in my kitchen."

But the recently revealed correspondence has also shed light on Epstein's connection to another politician: Democrat Stacey Plaskett. A former Republican who served in the Bush administration as a political appointee at the Department of Justice, Plaskett now represents the U.S. Virgin Islands as a nonvoting delegate; she also served as a leader of Trump's second impeachment trial.

As The Washington Post reported last Friday evening, Nov. 14, Plaskett was actively conversing with Epstein during a February 2019 congressional hearing in which former Trump fixer Michael Cohen was testifying.

"Great outfit," Epstein texted Plaskett, according to the Post, as the hearing was being broadcast on television. "You look great."

"Thanks!" Plaskett replied.

But the texts touched on more than just looks. Epstein also gave Plaskett tips for her questioning, suggesting she ask Cohen — who had by then broken with the president — about figures at the Trump Organization who could speak to alleged financial improprieties.

"Cohen brought up RONA - keeper of the secrets," Epstein texted, apparently referring to Rhona Graff, a former Trump assistant, the Post reported.

"RONA?? Quick I'm up next is that an acronym," Plaskett replied. She would go on to ask about Graff.

Plaskett's connection to Epstein, as revealed in the new documents, has been a gift to conservative media.

"House Democrat exchanged texts with Epstein on how to hurt Trump during 2019 congressional hearing," the New York Post, a right-wing tabloid owned by Rupert Murdoch, declared in one headline. "‘Quick I’m Up Next’: Dem Del. Plaskett Caught Texting Epstein To Help Steer Questioning During Congressional Hearing," The Daily Caller crowed in another.

Reached for comment, Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., a member of the House Oversight Committee who has been outspoken about the Epstein saga, told The Redoubt that he wants all of the convicted sex trafficker's former allies to come clean.

"The Epstein class needs to go and we need accountability," Khanna said. "All Epstein files must come out. I have said from the first day I don't care whether it implicates Republicans or Democrats. Anyone who participated in abuse or knew about it and stayed silent must answer. And people should be transparent about their relationship with Epstein, what they knew about him, and what actions they took to stop the abuse."

But Khanna declined to name Plaskett, despite being asked about her. Pressed on whether he considered Plaskett to be a member of the "Epstein class" that "needs to go," Khanna responded: "I am talking about rich and powerful people who abused underage girls or covered up for them."

Khanna is not alone in failing to call out Plaskett by name. So far, none of her Democratic colleagues have demanded further scrutiny of her connection to Epstein, much less call for her resignation. They may well — and not without reason — view any acknowledgement of the Plaskett-Epstein texts as distracting from Trump, their main target and the man named some 1,500 times in the latest batch of documents. But a failure to address the matter could also stoke cynicism about Democrats' commitment to cleaning their own house and bolster claims of hypocrisy.

Plaskett has not been charged with any crime in connection with Epstein and has denied any knowledge of his actions. In October, a civil case brought by victims of Epstein, accusing Plaskett and other Virgin Islands officials of creating a "safe haven" for his depravity, was dismissed with prejudice, meaning it cannot be filed again.

In a statement at the time of the dismissal, Plaskett described the suit as "frivolous," noting that she "has consistently stated that Jeffrey Epstein's actions against the plaintiffs and countless other women were absolutely reprehensible."

But in February 2019, at the time she was texting back and forth with him while in Congress, Epstein was a known sexual predator, having already pleaded guilty, in 2008, to soliciting prostitution from a minor. In November 2018, three months before the hearing, the Miami Herald had also started publishing its investigative series, "Perversion of Justice," detailing how Epstein had earlier evaded federal prosecution despite having been "accused of assembling a large, cult-like network of underaged girls — with the help of young female recruiters — to coerce into having sex acts behind the walls of his opulent waterfront mansion" in Palm Beach, Florida. (It wasn't until July 2019 that Epstein was charged with federal sex trafficking.)

As Business Insider reported in 2023, Plaskett also leaned on Epstein for financial support. Beginning in 2014, when she first ran for Congress, Epstein helped fund the lawmaker's political career, donating $13,000 "to the Democratic Party for the benefit of Stacey Plaskett," per an email from Cecile de Jongh, the former first lady of the US Virgin Islands. De Jongh had encouraged Epstein's support for Plaskett, telling the disgraced financier, "We would have a friend in Stacey."

In a 2023 court filing, JPMorgan Chase — itself accused of facilitating Epstein's activities — alleged that de Jongh, who managed Epstein's companies on the Virgin Islands from 2007 to 2015, was the convicted sex offender's "primary conduit for spreading money and influence through the [U.S. Virgin Islands] government," NBC News reported. She has denied wrongdoing and has not been charged with any offense.

Plaskett, who would win a close primary contest in 2014 to launch her political career, would go on to receive Epstein's support for her subsequent campaigns: a $5,400 donation in 2016, the maximum allowed, and again two years later.

After Plaskett met with him at his home in Manhattan, Epstein — whose infamous private island, Little Saint James, is located in the U.S. Virgin Islands — gave $30,000 to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee in the fall of 2018, which the committee rejected after vetting the donor, according to Business Insider. Plaskett, like other Democratic members of Congress, had been asked to raise funds for the committee.

But while other Democrats were rejecting Epstein's financial support, Plaskett was not. Even after Epstein was arrested and charged with federal sex trafficking in 2019, her office initially said she would keep his campaign contributions.

"I'm pretty sure she's not," spokesperson Mike McQueery told CNBC in July 2019 when asked if Plaskett would return the donations.

That changed a day later.

"In light of new information and allegations that have been made against Jeffrey Epstein I have decided to make contributions to Virgin Islands organizations that work with women and children in the amount of his previous contributions,” Plaskett said in a statement.

Plaskett's office did not respond to The Redoubt's requests for comment.

As for Cohen: Asked what he thought of the Epstein-Plaskett connection — and the fact that questions he was asked in Congress were being suggested by the convicted sex trafficker — President Trump's former personal attorney pointed The Redoubt to a Nov. 15 interview on MS NOW (formerly MSNBC). In that appearance, Cohen denied ever speaking with Epstein himself and wondered why anyone would be talking to him after he had already been convicted of being a sexual predator.

"The part that bothers the most about it is not so much the questions or the comments that Jeffrey Epstein was making to this member of Congress, but why this member of Congress was even in discussion with somebody who was a known child sex trafficker, who was known to have had inappropriate sexual relations with underage girls," Cohen said. "I can't put my finger on why this member of Congress would be engaging in any conversation other than what we now know: that Jeffrey Epstein was a financial supporter."

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