Email exchanges show Epstein sought to arrange a meeting between the top Democrat and the US Virgin Islands representative.
According to the documents, Epstein was reached out to on behalf of Stacey Plaskett, the islands’ representative in the House of Representatives, as the politician sought to lobby Schumer for relief after two hurricanes struck the Caribbean in 2017.
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“We need to help Stassi meet Schumer. Any ideas?” Erica Kellerhals, a tax attorney in the U.S. Virgin Islands, wrote to Epstein in an email on January 24, 2018.
“There should be no problem, need to know the reason and topic,” Epstein wrote a few hours later.
“She has been unable to confirm a meeting with him. He is running the disaster relief bill and is only talking about Puerto Rico, not the (Virgin Islands). She is concerned that we will be ignored,” Kellerhall told Epstein in response.
Following his exchange with Kellerhals, Epstein sent an email to Kathy Ruemmler, former chief counsel to U.S. President Barack Obama, asking for help arranging a meeting with Schumer.
“Schumer is running Puerto Rico. Virgin Islands Relief=Bill. 6th Congress Rep. Stacey Plaskett, he hasn’t been able to get a meeting. Confirmed with her. CA=You help?” Epstein wrote to Ruemmler, now chief counsel at Goldman Sachs.
Rumler responded, referring to his chief of staff, “I have no relationship with him, but let me see if I can reach his COS.”
The emails are among nearly 3.5 million pages of files released last week related to U.S. authorities’ investigation into Epstein, who died by suicide in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.
It is unclear whether the meeting between Schumer and Plaskett moved forward, although Congress ultimately approved emergency funding for the U.S. Virgin Islands as part of a two-year budget package passed in February 2018.
There is no public record of Schumer meeting or directly communicating with Epstein.
Schumer, Plaskett and Kellerhals did not respond to requests for comment. Ruemmler could not be reached for comment.
The email exchange with Epstein, which has not been previously reported, is the latest of many examples of how the disgraced financier continued to wield influence at the highest levels of politics and business even after pleading guilty in 2008 to soliciting prostitution of a minor.
Plaskett’s relationship with Epstein has been a source of controversy for years.
Plaskett narrowly escaped censure by the House of Representatives last year after revelations that Epstein had coached her via text during a congressional hearing in February 2019.
Shortly after Epstein was arrested for the second time in July 2019, Plaskett announced that she would donate the amount to charity matching several campaign donations she received from Epstein and his associates.
While Plaskett is a non-voting member of Congress, the Democrat participates in floor debates and sits on several influential committees, including the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.
Plaskett had previously denied enabling Epstein, calling him a “monster” and saying she was “disgusted by his deviant behavior”.
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