House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries found himself entangled in the Jeffrey Epstein controversy after an email allegedly revealed the convicted sex offender received an invitation to a fundraiser dinner involving the Democratic leader.
The New York congressman issued a firm denial on Tuesday, stating he has no memory of the correspondence and never met Epstein. The statement came as President Trump prepared to sign legislation forcing the release of all government files related to the late financier.
“I have no recollection of the email,” Jeffries told reporters. “I’ve never had a conversation with him, never met him, know nothing about him other than the extreme things that he’s been convicted of doing.”
The email in question was sent to Epstein in 2013 by Dynamic SRG, a Democrat-aligned consulting firm that was working with Jeffries at the time. The correspondence promoted a fundraiser dinner and invited Epstein to participate.
“Dear Jeffrey, we are thrilled to announce that we are working with Congressman Hakeem Jeffries, one of the rising stars in the New York Congressional delegation,” the letter from Dynamic SRG stated.
“Give us a call if you would like to get involved with the dinner, or would like to get an opportunity to know Hakeem better. He is an impressive guy who will be a progressive voice in New York politics for years to come.”
At the time the email was sent, Epstein was already a convicted sex offender. He had pleaded guilty in 2008 to soliciting prostitution from a minor.
The consulting firm’s letter also referred to Jeffries as “Brooklyn’s Barack,” drawing comparisons to then-President Barack Obama, who was scheduled to attend the dinner event.
The Republican-led House Oversight Committee seized on the revelation, questioning Jeffries on social media about his potential connection to Epstein.
“Epstein documents reveal that Hakeem’s consulting firm reached out to Jeffrey Epstein to arrange a dinner between them,” the committee posted. “Is ‘Brooklyn’s Barack’ telling us everything he knows?”
Jeffries was not the only Democrat facing scrutiny over Epstein connections on Tuesday. Virgin Islands Delegate Stacey Plaskett came under fire after documents revealed she texted Epstein during a 2019 congressional hearing where she was questioning Michael Cohen, President Trump’s former attorney.
“I got a text from Jeffrey Epstein who at the time was my constituent, who was not public knowledge at that time that he was under federal investigation,” Plaskett explained Tuesday. “And who was sharing information with me.”
The Washington Post identified Plaskett as the individual involved in the text exchange after her name was initially redacted from the document releases. Her office confirmed the newspaper’s reporting. Plaskett denied taking advice from Epstein, stating she does not need it “from any individual.”
The delegate narrowly escaped censure in the House of Representatives on Tuesday, with members voting 209-214 against formally reprimanding her for communicating with Epstein.
She also nearly lost her position on the House Intelligence Committee. Three House Republicans sided with Plaskett and voted with Democrats against the censure measure.
In a significant development Tuesday, both chambers of Congress passed legislation requiring the Justice Department to publicly release its files on Epstein. The Senate approved the Epstein Files Transparency Act by unanimous consent without a roll call vote.
President Trump is expected to sign the Epstein bill in the Oval Office on Wednesday. White House sources told the Daily Mail that Trump’s decision was not a reversal but a strategic move to expose senior Democrats with ties to Epstein.
“We have nothing to do with Epstein. The Democrats do – all of his friends were Democrats,” Trump told reporters Monday in the Oval Office.
“I believe that many of the people that we, some of the people that we mentioned, are being looked at very seriously for their relationship to Jeffrey Epstein, but they were with him all the time. I wasn’t. I wasn’t at all, and we’ll see what happens,” the president added.
Trump announced his support for the legislation Monday after spending the weekend criticizing Republican Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) and Thomas Massie (R-KY) for backing the bill.
In a Truth Social post, the president claimed he had “nothing to hide” and called the situation a “hoax.”
“House Republicans should vote to release the Epstein files,” Trump wrote. “We have nothing to hide, and it´s time to move on from this Democrat Hoax perpetrated by Radical Left Lunatics in order to deflect from the Great Success of the Republican Party.”
