On Tuesday evening, the House voted against a resolution championed by the House Freedom Caucus to formally censure Democratic Delegate Stacey Plaskett from the Virgin Islands. The resolution aimed to remove her from the House Intelligence Committee due to newly surfaced documents revealing her communication with Jeffrey Epstein during a 2019 hearing.

The vote concluded with a tally of 209-214-3. Notably, three Republicans—Reps. Don Bacon from Nebraska, Lance Gooden of Texas, and David Joyce of Ohio—sided with all Democrats by voting against the resolution, while three other Republicans opted to vote present.

Just earlier that day, the House and Senate both approved a legislative directive compelling the Department of Justice to disclose files concerning the late financier and convicted sex offender, Jeffrey Epstein. The resolution targeting Plaskett was introduced by Rep. Ralph Norman of South Carolina.

Had the resolution been approved, it was anticipated that Democrats would swiftly respond with a counter-resolution to censure Rep. Cory Mills from Florida. Mills was recently subject to a restraining order requested by his former girlfriend.

The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee recently made public documents from the Epstein estate, which included texts between Plaskett and Epstein during a February 2019 hearing with Michael Cohen, President Trump’s former fixer. This exchange occurred after a significant Miami Herald report in 2018 exposed Epstein’s criminal activities.

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.