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CNN’s Pamela Brown pressed Del. Stacey Plaskett (D-Virgin Islands) to explain her text exchanges with sex offender Jeffrey Epstein following the lawmaker narrowly escaping being censured in the House.
Plaskett joined Brown and Wolf Blitzer on The Situation Room on Wednesday where the conversation mainly centered around Plaskett’s relationship to Epstein. Documents released from the Epstein estate showed that the late billionaire and child sex predator texted Plaskett during a 2019 hearing in the House with Michael Cohen, a former lawyer for President Donald Trump. Epstein appeared to be nudging the direction of Plaskett’s questions during the hearing.
Plaskett said she was in contact with Epstein, who was a donor and a Virgin Islands resident, but she denied having a friendship with him.
“On that day that we’re talking about, you initiated the text exchange at 7:55 in the morning. So why were you even texting with Epstein at the time? He was a a known sex offender then,” Brown noted to Plaskett.
Epstein was required to register as a sex offender in 2008 after pleading guilty in Florida to soliciting a minor prostitution. He would later also be required to register a sex offender in New York. Epstein died in 2019 of an apparent suicide while facing sex trafficking charges.
According to Plaskett, she was simply using Epstein to get “information” from him. She also denied that Epstein was directing her questions during the hearing.
“I find it really interesting and almost rich that The Washington Post took 30 seconds, one set of question line that I did, and said that Epstein was directing me as to what to question Michael Cohen,” she said. “I have five minutes of questioning. I had a lot of questions, 20 years of experience that I had at the time along with other information I was getting from many sources about issues that should have been raised.”
Brown pressed Plaskett on whether she would have asked about Rhona Graff, former executive assistant to Trump, if Epstein hadn’t brought her up in their exchange.
“Probably not. I asked about three other individuals as well,” Plaskett said.
Brown further pressed Plaskett on whether she considered her exchanges with Epstein an “error” in judgement, considering he was a registered sex offender and there had already been a Miami Herald report alleging more widespread sexual misconduct by the billionaire.
“At this time, this was happening after he had already pleaded guilty to state prostitution charges. And then there was that Miami Herald article that came out in 2018 detailing how widespread the sexual abuse was, interviewing 80 women who said that he sexually abused them, I should say. So I’m wondering as you look back, do you think that it was an error in judgment to be communicating with him at all? Do you have any regrets?” Brown asked.
Plaskett slammed Epstein as “reprehensible” and “absolutely disgusting,” but defended communicating with him.
“I believe that Jeffrey Epstein had information, and I was gonna get information to get at the truth. Having a friendship with him is not something that I would would deem to have,” she said.
Check out the full exchange below:
STACEY PLASKETT: I have spoken with him about issues that are relevant, things that are going on in the Virgin Islands and elsewhere around the country.
PAMELA BROWN: Right, but on that day that we’re talking about, you initiated the text exchange at 7:55 in the morning. So why were you even texting with Epstein at the time? He was a a known sex offender then.
PLASKETT: Sure. You know, I explained to people I’ve been a prosecutor for many years and there are a lot of people who have information that are not your friends that you use to get information for to get at the truth. This was seven years ago, and people need to understand this was a huge hearing that was taking place with Michael Cohen finally coming forward to talk about monies that he had with the hush money, potential hush money, that had been paid to Stormy Daniels to keep her quiet about the allegations against Trump. We were entering a hearing, lots of people were texting me, lots of people were giving me information, and I find it really interesting and almost rich that The Washington Post took 30 seconds, one set of question line that I did, and said that Epstein was directing me as to what to question Michael Cohen. I have five minutes of questioning. I had a lot of questions, 20 years of experience that I had at the time along with other information I was getting from many sources about issues that should have been raised. And I also want to say that the issues that I raised in that hearing related to individuals who were closest to the president and who could know about money has never been looked into.
BROWN: Right, and we have the full transcript right here. No doubt you have an impressive resume. You’re a former federal prosecutor, you were an impeachment manager. But yes or no, if Epstein had not brought up Rhona to you in that text, would you have asked Michael Cohen about her independently?
PLASKETT: Probably not. I asked about three other individuals as well. Everyone knew other people knew that this woman had been the president’s assistant. I talked about other individuals who were also close to him that other people had given me information about that I had found other information about. And there were other issues that I talked with him about as well, Michael Cohen that I brought up during that time. So, as a prosecutor, as an investigator, you glean information, get information where you can. Some of it is relevant, some of it is not, and you put it all together and you ask the question.
BROWN: You’re saying look, he was a constituent, right? And whether or not they’re good or bad, you’re just trying to get information to get to the truth. But at this time, this was happening after he had already pleaded guilty to state prostitution charges. And then there was that Miami Herald article that came out in 2018 detailing how widespread the sexual abuse was, interviewing 80 women who said that he sexually abused them, I should say. So I’m wondering as you look back, do you think that it was an error in judgment to be communicating with him at all? Do you have any regrets?
PLASKETT: Well, listen, I think Jeffrey Epstein is a reprehensible person. Absolutely disgusting. I lived in a house during childhood with a mother who had been sexually abused by her dad. And I know the effect that had on her, as well as us as her family. And so I understand what the victims are going through, and I want them to get their relevant — their justice, their peace out of this. I believe that Jeffrey Epstein had information, and I was gonna get information to get at the truth. Having a friendship with him is not something that I would would deem to have. And so I’m just looking forward — I’m moving forward. And I think that that’s what we as American people should do is move forward. If individuals are not involved in illegal activity, extending his criminal enterprise or his financial enterprise or all of those things, I think that we need to look at what people are doing moving forward.
BROWN: Wait… He was a known sex offender and it had been detailed, all the sexual abuse.
PLASKETT: There are a lot of people who have done a lot of crimes, and as a prosecutor, you get information from people where you can. I’ve interviewed confidential informants, I’ve interviewed narcotics, drug traffickers and others, and that doesn’t mean that I’m their friend. That doesn’t mean that they are friendly with me. It means that they have information that I need and that I’m trying to get at the truth, and that’s what I do.
BROWN: So no regrets, basically, is what you’re saying?
PLASKETT: I’m moving forward.
Watch above via CNN.
The post ‘He Was a Known Sex Offender’: CNN’s Pamela Brown Grills Democrat Lawmaker Over Her Texts With Jeffrey Epstein first appeared on Mediaite.
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