Newly released documents from Jeffrey Epstein’s estate reveal that the convicted sex offender was texting with a member of Congress during a 2019 House hearing on Donald Trump’s former fixer and personal lawyer Michael Cohen, and those messages may have influenced the lawmaker’s inquiry.
Documents provided to Congress this week include transcripts that show Epstein was in direct contact with the lawmaker as the hearing began, The Washington Post reports.
Although the transcript does not name the lawmaker Epstein was messaging during the February 2019 hearing, an analysis of the Post shows it was non-voting Democratic Representative Stacey Plaskett of the U.S. Virgin Islands. By matching the timestamps of the messages with video of the hearing, the analysis concluded that Plaskett was the member of Congress in contact with Epstein.
At the time, Cohen was appearing before the House Oversight Committee to testify against Trump, accusing him of racism, financial fraud and directing hush money to conceal his extramarital affairs. Trump has denied all these allegations.
“Cohen raised Rona – keeper of secrets,” Epstein texted the man, referring to Rona Graff, Trump’s former executive assistant, but misspelling her name.
“cry??” The person replied. “I come forward immediately, that’s an acronym,” the person added, suggesting they would be interrogating Cohen soon.
Plaskett’s office did not immediately respond to the Guardian’s request for comment. Her chief of staff told the Post that she was “not in a position to confirm” whether the congresswoman was texting with Epstein during the hearing.
When Plaskett questioned Cohen during the hearing, he asked about the Trump associates he had mentioned earlier and whether “there were other people we should meet with?”
Cohen replied, “So Allen Weisselberg is the chief financial officer at the Trump Organization.”
“You need to quickly give us as many names as you can so we can get to them,” Plaskett said. “That’s Ms. Rona, what is Ms. Rona – …”
Cohen replied, “Rhona Graff – is Mr. Trump’s executive assistant… She was – her office is directly next to his office, and she has been involved in a number of events.”
The conversations are part of more than 20,000 pages of documents released Wednesday that have reignited the long-running scandal over Epstein’s ties to the rich and powerful. Democratic lawmakers said the messages, as well as three newly disclosed emails, showed Trump knew more about Epstein’s activities than he publicly disclosed.
In another instance on the day of the hearing, Epstein texted the man: “Are you chewing”. A minute earlier, the live television feed of the hearing had been cut off for Plaskett as she appeared to be chewing.
“Not anymore,” the man replied to Epstein. “Chewing the inside of my mouth. Bad habit from middle school.”
Plaskett was the first non-voting House representative to serve as impeachment manager during Trump’s impeachment trial in the Senate in 2021 for inciting the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. She represents the US Virgin Islands, a territory that does not have a vote in Congress.