Claims About Donations Misattributed in Congress

During a session in the House on Tuesday, Democratic Texas Representative Jasmine Crockett accused Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lee Zeldin of receiving donations from Jeffrey Epstein. However, it was later clarified that the donations actually came from a different individual, a self-employed doctor from New York, who contributed $750 to Zeldin’s campaign on April 24, 2020, which was a year following Epstein’s death. Records from the Federal Election Commission (FEC) confirm this. The same individual made an additional $250 donation to Zeldin’s campaign on August 31, 2020.

Crockett stated, “People who also received money from someone named Jeffrey Epstein, as I had my team thoroughly investigate. Quickly. Mitt Romney, NRCC, Lee Zeldin, George Bush, Win Red, McCain Palin, Rick Lazio. Just to be clear, if this is the standard we’re going to make, just know that we’re going to make it. Make everything public and know that anyone can see the FEC filings.”

Zeldin subsequently poked fun at Crockett’s error in a statement on X, saying, “Yes, it’s Crockett. A doctor named Dr. Jeffrey Epstein (who is a completely different person than the other Jeffrey Epstein) donated to my previous campaign. NO UNUSUAL RELATIONSHIP YOU ARE GENIUS!!!”

Records also indicated that the self-employed doctor had made two $250 donations to former Utah Republican Senator Mitt Romney during his 2012 presidential campaign, reinforcing that Romney did not receive any contributions from the infamous sex offender.

The House of Representatives passed the Epstein File Transparency Act on Tuesday with a near-unanimous vote of 427-1, the only opposition coming from Republican Representative Clay Higgins of Louisiana. President Donald Trump had previously expressed on social media that Republicans should endorse the release of the files, asserting they have “nothing to hide.”