Rep. Jasmine Crockett of Texas confronted [1] Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin during a debate over a resolution to censure Virgin Islands Delegate Stacey Plaskett, accusing him of accepting money from Jeffrey Epstein.
Crockett referenced the convicted billionaire sex offender.
Records show the donor was a different individual with the same name.
According to Federal Election Commission reports, Zeldin received a campaign contribution from Dr. Jeffrey Epstein, a physician in New York. Zeldin responded publicly after Crockett’s claim.
“Yes Crockett, a physician named Dr. Jeffrey Epstein (who is a totally different person than the other Jeffrey Epstein) donated to a prior campaign of mine,” Zeldin wrote on X.
He added, “NO FREAKIN RELATION, YOU GENIUS!”
Screenshots from FEC filings circulated online after the exchange, showing the donation came from the New York doctor.
The debate occurred as lawmakers reviewed newly released documents involving Plaskett.
Last Wednesday, the House Oversight Committee released thousands of pages of emails, texts, and other material from Jeffrey Epstein’s estate.
The documents included messages between Epstein and Plaskett as she prepared to question former Trump attorney Michael Cohen.
Epstein messaged Plaskett during the hearing, commenting that she looked “great” and updating her on references Cohen made to Rhona Graff, Trump’s former assistant.
Plaskett replied cordially in the messages, according to the documents.
On Tuesday, the House Freedom Caucus held a vote seeking to censure Plaskett and remove her from the House Democratic Caucus. All Democrats voted against the measure.
Three Republicans voted no and three voted present.
The resolution failed on a 209–214 vote.
The proposal also sought to remove Plaskett from the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, which receives classified briefings from agencies including the FBI and CIA.
Supporters of the censure cited the newly released documents.
“The House of Representatives has a responsibility and a duty to protect the integrity of this institution. And what we learn from the documents released by Jeffrey Epstein’s estate is nothing short of alarming,” said Rep. Ralph Norman of South Carolina, who introduced the measure.
Norman said the material showed coordination between Plaskett and Epstein.
“Those documents show that Delegate Stacey Plaskett, a sitting member of Congress, coordinated her questioning during an official Oversight hearing, with a man who was a convicted sex offender, a man whose crimes against minors shocked this entire nation,” he said.
Opponents argued that the resolution relied on insufficient evidence and bypassed established procedures.
Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland spoke against the measure.
He called it “one more pathetic effort to distract and divert attention from the fact that the president’s name appeared more than a thousand times already in the small fraction of material released on Epstein,” and described Epstein as a “constituent” of Plaskett because of Epstein’s primary residence in the Virgin Islands.
Raskin said Plaskett’s communications did not meet the threshold for disciplinary action.
“Without even going to the Ethics Committee, much less a court, they want to arraign her on some charges based on a newspaper article, that she did something lawful — however ill-advised — it may have been. She took a phone call from one of her constituents,” Raskin said.
He asked, “Where 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?”