Newly released materials from the U.S. House Oversight Committee are again highlighting Jeffrey Epstein’s efforts to maintain political access in the years after his 2008 conviction — including during a 2019 congressional hearing in which Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump’s former personal attorney, testified.
According to reporting Friday by The Washington Post, text messages in the committee’s document release appear to show Epstein communicating with someone in real time as the hearing unfolded. The Post reported that the timing and content of the messages align with V.I. Delegate Stacey Plaskett’s sequence of questioning that day, though the name of the person receiving the messages is redacted in the records and has not been confirmed by the committee.
Plaskett’s office did not answer The Post’s questions about whether she was the unnamed recipient. In a statement sent to the Source and other local media Friday, her team acknowledged that she received messages from multiple people during the hearing — including Epstein.
“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 … 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 Source has reviewed the Oversight Committee’s document release and will continue examining the materials. While the archive contains extensive communications from Epstein to a range of individuals, the documents do not identify the recipient of the specific messages cited in national reporting, nor do they show that the recipient sought out or encouraged contact. Additional context may emerge as further materials are analyzed.
The Oversight Committee has not alleged wrongdoing by Plaskett or any other lawmaker.
In the U.S. Virgin Islands — where Epstein owned Little St. James and Great St. James and where many of his crimes occurred — any new disclosure tied to his political activities draws immediate attention.
Epstein donated to several political campaigns in the territory over the years, including Plaskett’s. She returned those contributions in 2019 after his arrest on federal sex-trafficking charges.
Plaskett was also among several former Virgin Islands officials named in a 2023 lawsuit filed by Epstein accusers. She denied the allegations, and the suit was voluntarily dismissed with prejudice earlier this year. In seeking dismissal, her attorney wrote that Plaskett “learned of Epstein’s crimes simultaneously with the rest of the country” and had no involvement in his conduct.
The newly released documents are part of a broader congressional review of Epstein’s communications and the network of high-profile figures he contacted over decades. The Washington Post reported that the texts suggest Epstein was closely tracking the Feb. 27, 2019 hearing and commenting as Cohen’s testimony unfolded.
Whether the disclosures alter public understanding of Epstein’s influence remains uncertain. But the archive continues to expand, six years after Epstein’s 2019 death while awaiting trial on federal sex-trafficking charges — and congressional investigators say additional reviews of the materials are ongoing.
St. Croix Source
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