Jasmine Crockett faced scrutiny from CNN anchors as she criticized Donald Trump for his alleged ties to Jeffrey Epstein. On Wednesday morning, Democrats on the House Oversight Committee unveiled explosive emails from the late financier, in which Epstein alleged that Trump “spent hours at my house” with one of his victims. Initially, the Democrats redacted the victim’s name, but House Republicans later disclosed it as Virginia Giuffre, who, in her memoir, stated that Trump never behaved inappropriately toward her.

The exchange between Crockett and CNN anchor Pamela Brown heated up over the decision to conceal Giuffre’s name in the email release. Republicans claimed this was an attempt to discredit Trump. Brown questioned Crockett, noting, “She wrote a book, as you know, and she did not accuse [Trump] of any wrongdoing. What do you make of it?” Crockett retorted, “Can you confirm that? Yeah, I don’t know. Obviously, it’s redacted who the victim is, so I won’t necessarily take the Republican word on who it is that’s redacted. And I don’t know why they would necessarily redact someone’s name who is deceased at this point.”

Brown countered, “The Democrats did that, though.” Crockett, appearing caught off guard, replied, “The Democrats were – no, no, I understand. But just saying, like, our biggest concern is to actually make sure we are protecting victims. And obviously, she wrote a book; she told her truth.” Following the Democrats’ selective release of emails, Republicans on the House Oversight Committee countered by publishing a comprehensive 23,000-page document haul from Epstein’s estate.

In the the email dump sent out by the GOP, Epstein claimed he had compromising photos of ‘dirty’ Trump. Republican and Democratic members of the committee are investigating Epstein independent of Trump’s Department of Justice. The White House, meanwhile, held an emergency meeting with top DOJ officials following the release of Epstein emails.

Top Trump officials met in the White House Situation Room with Colorado Rep. Lauren Boebert amid bipartisan efforts in the House to force a vote on releasing the DOJ’s case files related to Epstein. The disclosures seemed designed to raise new questions about Trump´s friendship with Epstein and about what knowledge he may have had regarding what prosecutors call a yearslong effort by Epstein to exploit underage girls. The Republican businessman-turned-politician has consistently denied any knowledge of Epstein’s crimes and has said he ended their relationship years ago.

Trump did not take questions from reporters Wednesday, even after inviting them into the Oval Office to watch him sign legislation ending the government shutdown. The version of the 2011 email released by the Democrats redacted the name of the victim, but Republicans on the committee later said it was Virginia Giuffre, who accused Epstein of arranging for her to have sexual encounters with a number of his rich and powerful friends.

Epstein took his own life in a New York jail in 2019 while awaiting trial on federal charges. The emails made public Wednesday are part of a batch of 23,000 documents provided by Epstein´s estate to the Oversight Committee.