Jamie Raskin makes excuses after Democratic colleague took Epstein’s phone call

Democratic Maryland Rep. Jamie Raskin on Tuesday downplayed his colleague’s decision to take a phone call from disgraced sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

The phone call occurred in 2019.

Conservative lawmakers introduced a resolution to censure Democratic Virgin Islands Del. Stacey Plaskett and remove her from the House Intelligence Committee, accusing her of colluding with Epstein during a 2019 hearing after resurfaced messages showed her seeking his input on how to attack then-President Donald Trump. Raskin took to the House floor and defended Plaskett’s action as nothing more than a routine call with a “constituent.”

“Well, they want to give them another headline, which is that they’ve arraigned a Democratic member for taking a phone call from her constituent, Jeffrey Epstein, in the middle of a hearing. And, of course, I don’t think there’s any rule here against taking phone calls in a hearing,” Raskin said.

Raskin brushed aside concerns about Plaskett’s conduct.

WATCH:

“If you wanna actually give her the chance to explain what happened, then we would take it to the Ethics Committee. I still don’t see what the charge is. Where is the ethical transgression? Where is [the] legal transgression?” Raskin asked. “Are you saying anybody on your side of the aisle who had a phone call with Jeffrey Epstein should be censured? Be careful with your answer there, because there’s a lot more that’s about to come out, right? So you should think about what is the principle behind this rush to judge.”

The Washington Post first reported that Plaskett exchanged messages with Epstein during the 2019 hearing, after the House Oversight Committee released a large tranche of records from Epstein’s estate that included the redacted correspondence. Michael Cohen appeared before the committee that day to accuse Trump of arranging hush-money payments to conceal alleged affairs — allegations the president has repeatedly rejected.

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