During a CNN interview on Wednesday, Virgin Islands Attorney Stacey Plaskett defended her text exchanges with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. This came in response to backlash over her 2019 communications amid a Republican-led effort to censure her.
Plaskett clarified that they were looking for information from Epstein, not trying to establish a friendship. “As a prosecutor, you gather as much information as you can from various sources,” she stated on “The Situation Room.”
The House Freedom Caucus initiated the censure motion following the leak of Plaskett’s messages, which were sent during Michael Cohen’s Congressional testimony in February 2019. Cohen had claimed that President Trump tried to cover up allegations of an affair during his 2016 campaign, and the leaked documents hint that Epstein had an interest in questioning Plaskett.
Some of the messages suggested Epstein was trying to influence Plaskett’s questions. In one exchange, he remarked, “It opens the door to the question of who the other henchmen of the Trump Organization are.” When asked about her knowledge of the situation at the time, Plaskett replied, “Yes, I am very aware of this and am waiting my turn.”
The motion to censure her ultimately did not pass, as Democratic leaders defended her. Rep. Jamie Raskin denounced the effort as a distraction from the fact that Trump’s name appears multiple times in the released materials regarding Epstein.
The next day, Plaskett denied any implication of friendship with Epstein, insisting she was only trying to extract information. She explained to CNN, “I believed Jeffrey Epstein had information, so I was trying to get it to find out the truth. To have a friendship with him is unthinkable for me,” and added, “I’m just moving on.”
When questioned about whether her actions represented an error in judgment, especially given Epstein’s history, she stated, “There are many people who have committed many crimes.” Plaskett compared her approach to that of interviewing informants and criminals, emphasizing that her goal was simply to obtain necessary information, not to form relationships.
