The House Freedom Caucus is leading an effort to censure Delegate Stacey Plaskett for texting with Jeffrey Epstein during a congressional hearing so he could feed her questions.
Ms. Plaskett is the Democratic delegate for the U.S. Virgin Islands, where Epstein had owned a small private island where many of his sex crimes allegedly took place.
Documents from Epstein’s estate that the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee released last week include copies of text messages Ms. Plaskett exchanged with the wealthy financier a few months before he was arrested in 2019 on federal sex trafficking charges.
Epstein was already a convicted sex offender at the time, having pleaded guilty in 2008 to solicitation of prostitution from a minor.
The texts were exchanged before and during a February 2019 House Oversight hearing Ms. Plaskett attended with Michael Cohen, President Trump’s former personal attorney and fixer, who was alleging in his testimony that Mr. Trump manipulated financial records and directed hush money payments to cover up an extramarital affair.
The messages suggest Ms. Plaskett leaned on Epstein’s advice as she developed the questions she planned to ask Mr. Cohen.
“I think she needs to be censured by the House and removed from the Intelligence Committee for colluding with a convicted felon during a congressional hearing,” said House Freedom Caucus Chairman Andy Harris, Maryland Republican. “That does not reflect well on the House of Representatives.”
Mr. Harris said the Freedom Caucus will be leading a censure resolution against Ms. Plaskett that will be introduced on the floor as soon as Tuesday. Censure resolutions are privileged, meaning any member can trigger a vote.
The Washington Times reached out to Ms. Plaskett’s office for comment.
In the texts, Epstein told Ms. Plaskett that Mr. Cohen “opened the door to questions re who are the other henchmen at trump org,” including former Trump executive assistant Rhona Graff, whom he described in one message as “RONA – keeper of the secrets.”
“RONA??” Plaskett responded. “Quick I’m up next is that an acronym.”
Ms. Plaskett then asked Mr. Cohen if the committee should be meeting with other Trump associates and specifically questioned him about a “Ms. Rhona.”
Mr. Cohen said Ms. Graff is Mr. Trump’s executive assistant “and she’s involved in a lot that went on.”
Ms. Plaskett’s name was redacted in the Oversight documents, but her office issued a statement to The Washington Post, which was the first to report on the exchange, confirming she received texts from Epstein during the hearing.
“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 statement said. “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.”
House Democratic leaders have dodged questions about Ms. Plaskett’s communication with Epstein by pointing to the larger effort underway in Congress to force the Justice Department to release its case files on Epstein.
“This is a bipartisan effort to make sure that, consistent with what the survivors have requested, that there’s full and complete transparency and every single predator who may be in those Justice Department files doesn’t escape accountability,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, New York Democrat, said when asked about Ms. Plaskett on Monday.
On Tuesday, House Democratic Caucus Chairman Pete Aguilar, California Democrat, similarly called for the release of “all the documents” when asked about Ms. Plaskett and the Freedom Caucus effort to censure her.
“Nobody should have anything to hide,” he said. “Democratic members of Congress, president of the United States, everybody should embrace these documents being out there.”
Mr. Aguilar also questioned Republicans’ motives after a majority of them declined for months to join the push to release the Epstein files.
“It’s interesting now that Republicans want to try to find a way to use this issue, after spending months talking negatively about these files,” he said. “But we’re not new to the duplicity of Andy Harris.”
• Mallory Wilson contributed to this story.
