(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) House Oversight Ranking Member Jamie Raskin, D-Md., came up with a bizarre defense for Del. Stacey Plaskett, D-V.I., after bombshell text messages showed she took cues from Jeffrey Epstein during an anti-Trump hearing in 2019.
Speaking on the House floor Tuesday, Raskin claimed the texts were nothing more than Plaskett communicating with a “constituent.”
He even accused Republicans of creating headlines of a “Democratic member,” who he said was merely “taking a phone call from her constituent, Jeffrey Epstein, in the middle of a hearing.”
He then added, “I don’t think there’s any rule here against taking phone calls in a hearing,” before telling Republicans to “be careful what they wish for.”
If approved, the censure vote would strip Plaskett of all committee assignments, including the Oversight Committee, which is probing the Epstein files.
Raskin’s puzzling spin comes a day after House Republicans released several messages showing Epstein texting Plaskett before, during and after disgraced former attorney Michael Cohen testified against President Donald Trump.
The messages showed Epstein actively coaching Plaskett on her questions. Just hours before the hearing, he told her that Cohen could speak about Trump’s grades, and afterward he complimented her line of questioning.
Time-stamped footage also shows Plaskett glued to her phone, repeatedly checking her surroundings as Epstein’s messages came in.
At the time, Epstein was already a convicted sex offender in Florida and maintained deep ties to the Virgin Islands, the territory Plaskett represents as a non-voting member of the House.
Plaskett claimed Monday that Epstein’s texts were just part of the flood of messages from staff, constituents and the public at large.
“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,” she claimed. “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.”
Watch Plaskett defend herself on Thursday:
