The House of Representatives voted Tuesday night not to censure Virgin Islands Delegate Stacey Plaskett, a Democrat, over messages she exchanged with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein during a 2019 congressional hearing with Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump’s former personal lawyer.
The measure, which failed 209-214, would also strip Plaskett of her position on the House Intelligence Committee.
Democrats stood by Plaskett, urging the House to investigate the matter internally. Republicans saw it as hypocritical for the chamber to defend Plaskett while also pressuring Trump for answers on his relationship with Epstein.
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The messages the House Oversight Committee released last week did not identify Plaskett as a participant. She was identified after the Washington Post matched the timing of text messages were sent with Cohen’s testimony and concluded they may have influenced the questions Plaskett asked Cohen.
Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., introduced the legislation Tuesday, which the House Freedom Caucus drafted to censure and strip Plaskett of her committee assignment, after the chamber overwhelmingly passed a resolution compelling the Justice Department to release files related to the Epstein investigation.
Plaskett defended her texts during a House debate, saying she was listening to Epstein as a constituent and that she had heard from other Virgin Islanders. Epstein owned properties on multiple islands in Plaskett’s district.
Plaskett, like other representatives of U.S. territories, does not have voting power in the House.
An earlier vote to refer the matter to the chamber’s ethics committee failed.
Plaskett questioned assertions that she texted a felon.
“You want to talk about texting felons, how often do you text President Donald J. Trump?” she said Tuesday. A grand jury convicted Trump of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records related to hush money payments to influence the 2016 election.
Allegations of impropriety
Norman alleged in his resolution that Plaskett “colluded” with Epstein during the 2019 hearing, where Cohen detailed his relationship with Trump after he admitted to violating campaign finance laws for Trump.
“Delegate Plaskett was actively coached by Epstein during the hearing, received instructions on specific lines of questioning, and was congratulated afterwards with the message, ‘Good work,’” Norman said in the resolution.
Norman added that Plaskett was known to have political, personal and professional connections with Epstein after his 2008 conviction and until his 2019 death. He said her relationships and text exchange raised questions about her “judgment, integrity, and fitness to serve.”
Norman’s resolution would have also required the body to investigate Plaskett’s ties to Epstein.
Politics at play
Before Tuesday night’s vote, U.S. Rep. Yvette Clarke, D-N.Y., resurrected a measure to censure Florida Rep. Cory Mills that would strip him of his seat in the Armed Services Committee.
Clarke’s measure, acquired by Axios, outlines accusations of stolen valor, financial misdeeds, and domestic abuse. Mills denies the allegations.
The Mills censure was threatened in previous situations where Republicans pushed to punish Democrats in the same manner. Clarke filed her resolution after the GOP sought to censure Rep. LaMonica McIver, D-N.J., over an altercation she had with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Another Democrat pushed the censure when Republicans filed a measure punishing Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., for her remarks about the death of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. Both of those efforts failed.
Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., commented on the dynamics of the failed censure votes.
“I was wondering if the speaker of the House of Representatives can explain why leadership on both sides, both Democrat and Republican, are cutting back-end deals to cover up public corruption in the House of Representatives for both Republican and Democrat members of Congress,” she said shortly after the failed censure resolution.
Mills voted in favor of censuring Plaskett.
