Staff Reports
Newly released documents from the House Oversight Committee show Jeffrey Epstein was texting with a member of Congress during Michael Cohen’s 2019 testimony, and reporting points strongly to Delegate Stacey Plaskett as the recipient. The messages were sent in near real time while the hearing was on television, a fact that should alarm anyone who believes in the integrity of our institutions. This isn’t a garden-variety scandal; it’s raw evidence that a convicted sex offender was whispering into the ear of a sitting lawmaker during an active congressional proceeding.
The content of the exchanges is striking: Epstein messaged about Cohen’s references to people inside the Trump orbit, even flagging the name of an aide, and the timestamps line up with Plaskett’s questions on the record. At one point Epstein reportedly wrote “Cohen brought up RONA — keeper of the secrets,” and the lawmaker immediately pivoted to asking about that very person minutes later. The choreography of these messages looks less like random public commentary and more like a tip line from a man with a clear agenda.
Plaskett’s office has acknowledged that she received texts from a wide range of people during the hearing and conceded that some came from Epstein, while insisting she welcomed information that helped her “get at the truth.” That defense rings hollow when the so-called information came from a convicted predator with a history of manipulating institutions and people for his own ends. Voters should not be forced to accept a shrugging statement from a staff press release when the optics and the timestamps demand real answers.
Senator John Kennedy has been among the most vocal lawmakers demanding transparency, pressing FBI Director Kash Patel and others to release every lawful page of the Epstein files so the American people can see the whole picture. Kennedy’s point is straightforward and patriotic: if there is nothing to hide, release the records and put the matter to rest; if there is more to this scandal, the public deserves to know. No institution should be allowed to pick and choose what it discloses based on convenience or politics.
Patel told the Senate he’s seen a good deal of the files and insisted there is “no credible information” in the FBI’s current possession that Epstein trafficked victims to others, while also saying the bureau will release everything it is legally permitted to release. That answer will not satisfy Americans who have watched powerful people get soft treatment for years and who remember the sweetheart non-prosecution deal that let Epstein walk far too easily in the past. The combination of legal scolding and equivocation from the institutions of justice only deepens suspicion and fuels the very distrust politicians keep promising to cure.
Enough with selective outrage and partisan double standards. When a Democrat lawmaker receives cheery encouragement from a convicted sex criminal while steering a congressional hearing, the response from the media and from colleagues should be ferocious and consistent, not a parade of excuses and clipped statements. Americans of every party ought to demand the same transparent standard for every official, and anyone who defends secrecy at this point is implicitly defending the status quo that protected Epstein for far too long.
Senator Kennedy’s insistence that the files be released is the right posture for patriots who still believe in accountability and in the rule of law. Let the judges decide what must remain sealed, but for everything else: release it, publish it, and let the chips fall where they may. Our institutions will only recover public trust when they stop protecting the powerful and start delivering the same measure of justice to every citizen.
