U.S. Representative Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) made statements on the House floor Tuesday, alleging that several prominent Republicans, including former presidential nominees and a former president, received campaign donations or other funds from convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Rep. Crockett delivered a list of names she claimed her team had sourced from FEC filings: “Mitt Romney, the NRCC, Lee Zeldin, George Bush, Wynn Redd, McCain Palin, Rick Lazio.”
She challenged her Republican colleagues, stating, “If this is the standard that we’re going to make, just know we’re going to expose it all and just know that the FEC filings, they are available for everybody to review.”
However, public records soon revealed that the donations attributed to Zeldin and Romney came from a different individual with the same name, a self-employed physician in New York.
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According to Federal Election Commission (FEC) records, the donations to Lee Zeldin—totaling $1,000 across two contributions—were made in April and August of 2020, nearly a year after the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein died in federal custody.
The misidentification drew a mocking response from Zeldin, who took to social media platform X (formerly Twitter) to correct the error.
“Yes Crockett, a physician named Dr. Jeffrey Epstein (who is a totally different person than the other Jeffrey Epstein) donated to a prior campaign of mine,” Zeldin wrote. “NO FREAKIN RELATION YOU GENIUS!!!”
Records similarly indicate that two $250 donations made to former Republican Utah Senator Mitt Romney during his 2012 presidential campaign also originated from the New York physician named Jeffrey Epstein, further debunking the congresswoman’s claim of direct campaign funding from the deceased sex offender.
Crockett’s speech came on the same day the House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed the Epstein Files Transparency Act in a 427-1 vote, compelling the Justice Department to release all files from its investigation into Jeffrey Epstein.
Republican Louisiana Rep. Clay Higgins was the sole dissenter. President Donald Trump had urged Republicans to vote for the release, stating the administration had “nothing to hide.”
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