House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries appears unwilling to answer questions about Democratic U.S. Virgin Islands Del. Stacey Plaskett’s communications with Jeffrey Epstein despite repeatedly calling for complete transparency regarding the late convicted sex predator.
Reporters grilled Jeffries over Plaskett’s 2019 texts with Epstein, and the top House Democrat repeatedly refused chances to condemn his caucus member’s interactions with the pedophile at a Wednesday press conference. Jeffries, in response to the questioning, has repeatedly fallen back on his and Plaskett’s statements from the House floor Tuesday night, right before the vote to censure her failed.
“I expressed my position on the floor yesterday. My statement speaks for itself,” Jeffries told CNN’s Manu Raju when asked why he was okay with a Democrat interacting with Epstein. Jeffries then pivoted to the defeated censure resolution — which aimed to kick Plaskett off the House Intelligence Committee — calling it a “dramatic overreach.” When Raju attempted to ask a follow up question about Plaskett’s actions, Jeffries replied, “If you’re going to ask a question, you have to let me answer.”
“Stacey Plaskett has made clear her position as it related to Jeffrey Epstein, repeatedly, and her words speak for itself,” the lead House Democrat added.
Plaskett said in her floor remarks that Epstein was a constituent of hers and it was unknown at the time that Epstein was under federal investigation. The texts, however, occurred 11 years after Epstein pled guilty to soliciting prostitution with a minor, solidifying his status as a convicted sex offender.
When asked if Plaskett should be sent to the Ethics Committee over the communications, Jeffries answered, “There was a vote on that yesterday. My vote speaks for itself.”
Jeffries, along with the entire House Democratic Caucus, voted against the resolution to censure Plaskett. In his near six-minute remarks on the House floor before the vote, he only focused on Plaskett for roughly 40 seconds.
“And let me be very clear about Stacey Plaskett. She’s a woman of great intelligence and great integrity and she deserves better than what she is receiving from House Republican extremists,” Jeffries said on the floor Tuesday night. “She deserves the opportunity to be heard. She deserves due process. She deserves the ability to make her case. Not prosecuted by petty foggers playing lawyer on the floor of the House of Representatives.”
Following the censure vote, Jeffries appeared on CNN’s The Source with Kaitlan Collins and claimed he had not had a discussion with Plaskett over her communications with Epstein. Jeffries did not answer Collins when she asked if he planned to speak with the Delegate, nor did he answer her on if Plaskett’s actions were appropriate.
The minority leader later told Raju after his Wednesday press conference that he had a “private conversation” with Plaskett about the texts, but had not spoken with her since Tuesday’s failed censure vote.
“Standing against a convicted predator’s influence in our proceedings is not partisan. It’s basic decency,” Republican South Carolina Rep. Ralph Norman said ahead of Plaskett’s censure vote.
“The American people deserve to know the truth. What, if anything, is the Trump administration and the Department of Justice hiding? What are [Republicans] hiding?” Jeffries said at a July press conference. “If you’re not hiding anything, prove that to the American people, and if you are trying to hide something, as many of Donald Trump’s MAGA supporters apparently believe, then the Congress should actually work hard to try to uncover the truth.”
Plaskett sought consult from Epstein during a 2019 congressional hearing, texting him from the committee panel, “Quick I’m up next,” before she began questioning lawyer Michael Cohen — a former friend of Epstein’s — who accused President Donald Trump of paying off mistresses to hide evidence of extramarital affairs during the 2016 election.
“[Cohen has] opened the door to questions re who are the other henchmen at trump org,” Epstein texted Plaskett. The Democratic Del. confirmed she was “very aware” of this as her turn to question him drew closer.
“The people of the Virgin Islands I’m confident will continue to stand behind her,” Jeffries said Tuesday night. “[House Democrats] will never be lectured on issues relating to accountability, transparency, principle and ethics from this group of extreme House Republicans.”
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