Epstein Texted Democrat During Cohen Hearing

Jeffrey Epstein was feeding questions to Rep. Stacey Plaskett during a 2019 congressional hearing — and giving her real time help on how to damage President Trump’s reputation, newly released documents show.

The texts, first reported by the Washington Post, show the convicted pedophile pontificating with Plaskett during a Feb. 27, 2019 House Oversight Committee hearing in which the then-former president’s ex-attorney Michael Cohen testified about Trump’s alleged payments to mistresses to silence stories before the 2016 election. Trump has vehemently denied all allegations.

In the texts, Epstein appeared to be watching on television while Cohen brought up former Trump executive assistant Rhona Graff in his testimony.

“Cohen brought up RONA – keeper of the secrets,” Epstein texted, misspelling Graff’s first name.

“RONA??” responded Plaskett, a non-voting delegate representing the US Virgin Islands. “Quick I’m up next is that an acronym,” she added, suggesting she’d grill Cohen soon.

“Thats his assistant,” Epstein replied.

The text messages also show Epstein influenced what questions Cohen asked.

“Hes opened the door to questions re who are the other henchmen at trump org,” Epstein texted Plaskett at 12:25 p.m.

“Yup. Very aware and waiting my turn,” she responded.

Plaskett began questioning Cohen at 2:28 p.m. and asked about Graff, as well as with other Trump associates Epstein had mentioned, according to the Washington Post.

“Are there other people that we should be meeting with?” Plaskett asked.

“So Allen Weisselberg is the chief financial officer in The Trump Organization,” Cohen began to reply.

“You’ve got to quickly give us as many names as you can so we can get to them,” Plaskett responded. “Is Ms. Rhona, what is Ms. Rhona’s— …?”

“Rhona Graff is the — Mr. Trump’s executive assistant … She was — her office is directly next to his, and she’s involved in a lot that went on,” Cohen replied.

At 2:34 p.m, Epstein told Plaskett “Good work”— a minute after she finished her questioning.

The texts were released as part of roughly 20,000 pages of documents from Epstein’s estate made public Wednesday by the House Oversight Committee.

The documents redacted Plaskett’s name, but the newspaper analyzed the messages and compared them to hearing footage to report Plaskett was indeed texting Epstein.

At the time, Epstein was already convicted on state prostitution charges, and months later he’d be charged with sex trafficking minors.

Epstein owned two private islands in the U.S. Virgin Islands—Great Saint James and Little Saint James — which the feds have called the nexus of his sex-trafficking operations.

Plaskett initially declined comment, but after the newspaper published its story Friday night her office issued a statement confirming she had contact during the hearing with her former campaign donor.

“During the hearing, Congresswoman Plaskett received texts from staff, constituents and the public at large offering advice, support and in some cases partisan vitriol, including from Epstein,” the statement said.

“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. 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.”

The Virgin Islands delegate in July 2019 vowed to part ways with $8,100 in campaign donations the convicted pedophile gave her – after initially saying she planned to keep the cash.

In June 2023, Plaskett made headlines when she tripped over her tongue on MSNBC, saying Trump “needs to be shot” over his alleged mishandling of classified documents before quickly correcting herself to say that he should be “stopped.”

Trump earlier this week called on the Department of Justice to probe Epstein’s links to Democratic bigwigs and institutions like JP Morgan Chase.

U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi on Friday instructed Jay Clayton, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, to oversee an investigation, vowing it would be handled “with urgency and integrity.”