The House of Representatives voted on Tuesday evening against a proposal championed by the House Freedom Caucus to censure Democratic Virgin Islands Delegate Stacey Plaskett. The resolution aimed to expel her from the House Intelligence Committee, following revelations about her communications with Jeffrey Epstein during a 2019 hearing.

The vote concluded with a tally of 209-214, with three abstentions. Notably, Republicans Don Bacon of Nebraska, Lance Gooden of Texas, and David Joyce of Ohio sided with all Democrats in opposing the resolution. Additionally, three other Republicans chose to vote “present.”

This decision came shortly after both the House and the Senate passed legislation requiring the Department of Justice to disclose documents pertaining to Epstein, the deceased financier and convicted sex offender. The resolution was spearheaded by Rep. Ralph Norman, a Republican from South Carolina.

Had the resolution succeeded, it was widely anticipated that Democrats would promptly introduce a counter-resolution to censure Republican Rep. Cory Mills of Florida. This move would have been in response to a recent court order granting a restraining order against Mills by his former girlfriend.

The controversy surrounding Plaskett stems from documents released by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee last week. These documents revealed that Plaskett had exchanged text messages with Epstein during a February 2019 hearing involving Michael Cohen, a former associate of President Trump. This interaction occurred after a significant investigative report by the Miami Herald in 2018 had already exposed Epstein’s sex crimes.

The Washington Post reported that during the hearing, Epstein suggested that Plaskett ask Cohen about Trump’s former executive assistant. Plaskett did so. After the hearing, Epstein texted her, “good work.”

The censure resolution says Plaskett “was actively coached by Epstein during the hearing, received instructions on specific lines of questioning, and was congratulated afterwards with the message ‘Good work.’”

The resolution read: “Delegate Plaskett’s willingness to receive instructions on official congressional proceedings from Epstein, a convicted felony sex offender with deeply concerning international associations, is especially alarming and inappropriate given her own past service in the U.S. Department of Justice and her current role on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, and raises serious questions about Delegate Plaskett’s judgement, integrity, and fitness to serve.”

During debate on the resolution, Plaskett defended herself in an impassioned speech on the House floor, noting that it was not known Epstein was under investigation at the time they communicated and adding that she donated all his campaign contributions to women’s organizations.

“They’ve taken a text exchange which shows no participation, no assistance, no involvement in any illegal activity and weaponized it for political theater because that is what this is,” Plaskett said.

“I see members coming and speaking against me who have never even had a conversation with me. You don’t know me. You don’t know the work that I’ve done. You don’t know the support that I’ve given to families, to individuals, to support people. I worked a full-time job with children under the age of five, going to law school at night. Do you think I would risk my law degree for any individual, never mind a reprehensible individual by the name of Jeffrey Epstein? I would not.” 

While she called the measure an attempt at intimidation, she said even without committee assignments, she would still come to the Capitol and “do the work.”

Epstein, who had a private island in the Virgin Islands, had contributed to Plaskett’s campaign. After Epstein’s conviction later in 2019, Plaskett initially said she was unlikely to return Epstein’s donations, but later said she would donate those campaign contributions.