Jasmine Crockett refuses to retract false accusation that Lee Zeldin took money from Jeffrey Epstein

WASHINGTON, DC: Rep Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) is sticking to her guns after falsely linking Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) administrator Lee Zeldin to Jeffrey Epstein.

In a tense sit-down on MS NOW’s 'The Weekend', host Jacqueline Alemany pressed Crockett on her eyebrow-raising accusation that the Donald Trump administration official pocketed donations from the disgraced financier. It later emerged that Zeldin’s donor was a totally different Jeffrey Epstein, a New York physician with the same infamous name.

It all began last month after Republicans made hay over House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries’ supporters inviting Epstein to a private 2013 meet-and-greet. Crockett countered by firing off her own list of Epstein-adjacent donors on the House floor.

“Folks who also took money from somebody named Jeffrey Epstein, as I had my team dig in very quickly: Mitt Romney, the NRCC, Lee Zeldin, George Bush, WinRed, McCain-Palin, Rick Lazio,” she declared on the House floor.

Jasmine Crockett defends her remarks

On Sunday, November 30, Alemany gave Crockett a free pass to walk it back. “You made a little bit of news when you mistakenly accused Lee Zeldin, another Republican, of accepting money from Jeffrey Epstein. But it was a different Jeffrey Epstein, according to the financial records. I want to give you the opportunity to amend that,” she said. 

“I have no amendments,” Crockett shot back, before launching a surreal defense of her remarks.

“When I was on the floor — for those that don’t know how it works — basically they decided to bring this privilege motion up, and they decided that they wanted to kick [Rep] Stacey [Plaskett] off of her committees … because she had received a donation from Jeffrey Epstein. I had maybe 20 minutes. We researched the FEC, and because I like to speak with specificity, that’s kind of what comes with being an attorney,” Crockett insisted.

“I made clear that there was ‘a’ Jeffrey Epstein they knew on the other side that I did not have time to actually pull up, and actually research — especially since that particular one that Lee Zeldin got up in an uproar about was specifically out of the New York area. We know that he was out of that area. So, and this obviously was not done post-Jeffrey Epstein’s life. So I made sure that I said ‘a’ Jeffrey Epstein,” she continued.

Jasmine Crockett concedes a little

Alemany pressed again. “You were trying to insinuate that it was ‘the’ Jeffrey Epstein,” the host said.

“Oh, I absolutely was insinuating that it could be possible. That is true,” Crockett admitted. “But the point is, I never said that it was that specific one because I did not have the adequate time to do it. And so the Jeffrey Epstein has stepped forward and that’s not like, you know, a normal name. And I think that what would have been problematic is if I would have claimed that, say, that happened and it legitimately never happened. So ultimately, he cleared the record. I have not researched further. I’ve not talked to this doctor.” 

Alemany tried one last time to wrangle Crockett into admitting the obvious. “But you can agree that Lee Zeldin didn’t receive money from ‘the' Jeffrey Epstein,” she said.

Crockett stuck to her lane. “I can agree that Lee Zeldin has said that he’s not received money from ‘the’ Jeffrey Epstein,” she replied.