The House is set to vote Tuesday evening on a measure censuring Democratic Del. Stacey Plaskett for being in contact with the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Lawmakers sank a Democratic-led effort to send the measure to the House Ethics Committee by a nearly party-line 214-213 vote. Two Republican lawmakers, Reps. Lance Gooden of Texas and Dave Joyce of Ohio, voted with all Democrats to have the Ethics panel take up the resolution instead.
Republican Rep. Ralph Norman of South Carolina brought up the measure through a fast-track process bypassing Hill leadership and committees. It would deliver a formal rebuke of Plaskett and remove her from the House Intelligence Committee.
If the measure is adopted tonight, Plaskett would be the latest House Democrat to be removed from her committee role. Republicans voted last Congress to removeRep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) from the House Foreign Affairs Committee for her past comments about Israel.
Documents released from Epstein’s estate showed the nonvoting delegate from the U.S. Virgin Islands textingwith Epstein during a congressional hearing in 2019.
Tuesday’s votes come on the same day the House voted nearly unanimously to force the Justice Department to release more information about its case against Epstein.
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