In a Vox interview, Texas Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D) defended prioritizing fiery “clapbacks” over factual accuracy in her statement, arguing Democrats are seen as weak “doormats” while Republicans evade accountability amid alleged GOP violence.
She specifically refused to accept responsibility, including when she alleged that Lee Zeldin accepted funds from a “Jeffrey Epstein,” who was an entirely different person from the controversial billionaire. Additionally, she called the environment “uncharted territory” requiring aggressive opposition, not apologies.
In any case, while speaking with Vox interviewer Astead Herndon about whether politicians should be “clapback artists,” the irritating Texas Democrat stated, “I think that in this moment you have to understand that politics has changed.”
Still not done, she claimed that Democrats are “viewed as the doormat for the Republicans. [Voters] continue to say, ‘Where’s the opposition? Where’s the fight?’ And instead, we continue to say, ‘These are the rules, and we try to play by the rules,’ as they literally are shooting people dead in the middle of the street. And there’s no accountability.”
The reporter asked if she thought she’d taken rhetoric too far, especially with her allegations that Lee Zeldin had taken money from Jeffrey Epstein. “No, not in this environment. I don’t,” Crockett replied, “I think that, you know, we are really in uncharted territory.”
Crocket also affirmed that, “Unlike Republicans, I at least don’t go out and just tell lies,” in a later interview, “So, number one, I made sure that I was clear that it was a Jeffrey Epstein, but I never said that it was specifically that Jeffrey Epstein.”
As we reported at the American Tribune, Crockett alleged, “Folks who also took money from somebody named Jeffrey Epstein, as I had my team dig in very quickly: Mitt Romney, the NRCC, Lee Zeldin, George Bush, WinRed, McCain-Palin, Rick Lazio.”
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“I just want to be clear: If this is the standard that we gonna make, just know we are gonna expose it all. And just know that the FEC filings, they are available for everyone to review. This is absolutely ridiculous,” she continued to claim.
Firing back in a statement on social media, Zeldin retorted, “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. NO 👏 FREAKIN 👏 RELATION 👏 YOU 👏 GENIUS!!!”
Later in an interview with CNN, she threw her staffers under the bus, claiming, “Yeah, but people might see that say, well, you’re trying to make it sound like he took money from a registered sex offender.” Crockett insisted, “I did not know…no, but I literally did not know when you search FEC files, and that’s what I had my team to do. I text them, and I say, listen, we’re going up. They’re saying that she took donations, right?”
Watch the clip here:
After pushback from the ancho,r Crocket asserted, “You could not find that out, not from just doing a quick search on FEC. So number one, I made sure that I was clear that it was a Jeffrey Epstein, but I never said that it was specifically that Jeffrey Epstein, because I knew that we would we would need more time to really dig in.”
Featured image from embedded video