Democrats squirm amid mounting evidence of the party’s Epstein connections

Donald Trump’s name appears frequently in the latest batch of Epstein files made public by Congress, but it was Democrats who befriended the disgraced financier and convicted sex offender, emails show, and the party is now dodging questions about its members’ involvement.

Democrats avoided explaining why members of their party, including a top leader, were reaching out to Jeffrey Epstein years after he was convicted of soliciting prostitution from a minor and ordered to register as a sex offender.

They also denounced a measure censuring Delegate Stacey Plaskett, Virgin Islands Democrat, who was texting Epstein for help in questioning a witness during a congressional oversight hearing in 2019.

“Trump and Epstein were besties,” said Rep. Jasmine Crockett, Texas Democrat. “We’ve all seen the pictures of them. We saw the birthday book. So why are you all more interested in talking about Stacey Plaskett than Trump’s relationship with the man? When did you all become so moral?”

Democratic lawmakers pointed the finger at Mr. Trump, who palled around with Epstein in the 1990s but ended the friendship around 2007. None of the emails showed Mr. Trump communicating with Epstein.

“Donald Trump is using the Situation Room to advance the cover-up of the Jeffrey Epstein files,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, New York Democrat, said Monday.

On Tuesday, Mr. Jeffries’ name turned up in the Epstein files in an email soliciting money and a meeting with the wealthy financier.

Emails show that, in addition to Mr. Jeffries, other prominent Democrats remained in close contact with Epstein long after his 2008 conviction on soliciting prostitution from a minor. They include Obama administration economic adviser Lawrence H. Summers, Democratic donor Reid Hoffman and Ms. Plaskett.

Mr. Summers, who served as U.S. treasury secretary in the Clinton administration, said he will step back from public commitments.

Rather than addressing questions about their own involvement, Democrats criticized Republicans for exposing their party’s connection to Epstein.

“It’s interesting that Republicans now want to try to find a way to use this issue, after spending months talking negatively about these files,” said House Democratic Caucus Chairman Pete Aguilar of California.

The batch of 22,000 documents published last week by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee included a solicitation for Epstein’s money from a firm representing Mr. Jeffries.

The 2013 email sought to arrange a meeting between Mr. Jeffries and Epstein, who by then was not only a convicted sex offender but also was facing lawsuits from women who said he had victimized them beginning when they were minors.

The firm representing Mr. Jeffries, Dynamic SRG, asked Epstein to attend a Democratic fundraising dinner with President Obama.

“Shoot us an email or give us a call … if you would like to get involved with the dinner, or would like to get an opportunity to get to know Hakeem better,” representatives of the firm wrote to Epstein. “He is an impressive guy who will be a progressive voice for New York politics for years to come.”

Mr. Jeffries has repeatedly accused Mr. Trump of blocking the release of all the government’s files related to the investigation of Epstein and his accomplice, Ghislaine Maxwell, and said the president is attempting to hide his own involvement with Epstein.

A representative for Mr. Jeffries did not respond to a request for a comment about the email and his relationship with Epstein.

Mr. Jeffries was elected to the House in 2012 and quickly rose through the leadership ranks. He became the Democratic leader in 2023.

According to the Center for Responsive Politics, Epstein gave $147,426 to Democrats and $18,250 to Republicans dating back to 1990. 

Democrats on Capitol Hill defended Ms. Plaskett, who was exposed in the latest dump of Epstein files, being coached by Epstein about questions to ask during a congressional hearing.

Ms. Plaskett represents the U.S. Virgin Islands, where Epstein owned a small private island. Many of his sex crimes allegedly took place there.

She reached out to Epstein a few months before he was arrested in 2019 on federal sex trafficking charges and texted with him before and during a February 2019 House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing involving Michael Cohen, Mr. Trump’s former attorney and fixer.

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 whether the committee should be meeting with other Trump associates and specifically questioned him about a “Ms. Rhona.”

Mr. Cohen said Rhona Graff is Mr. Trump’s executive assistant, “and she’s involved in a lot that went on.” Epstein praised Ms. Plaskett when she finished questioning Mr. Cohen. “Good work,” he texted.

Democrats defended Ms. Plaskett’s actions and said Republicans were rushing to judgment with a vote to remove her from the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. They called for an investigation of Ms. Plaskett by the Ethics Committee instead.

“Why was Miss Plaskett doing that? I’m sure she’s got a good explanation,” said Rep. Jamie Raskin, Maryland Democrat. “We’re talking about a distinguished lawyer and federal prosecutor who was in the middle of a hearing, which is something that members do all the time, which is to talk to people in hearings about different things.”

Ms. Plaskett said Epstein was “sharing information with me” and that she was not taking advice from him. It was not public knowledge at that time that he was under a federal investigation for sex trafficking minors, Ms. Plaskett said.

“You want to talk about texting felons? How often do you text President Donald J. Trump? That’s the individual we should be concerned about,” she said.

• Lindsey McPherson contributed to this report.