Congress
Plaskett remains defiant over Epstein communications
Virgin Islands Del. Stacey Plaskett on Wednesday expressed no regret for her prior contact with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein during a 2019 House Oversight Committee hearing.
In an interview with BLN’s “The Situation Room,” the Democrat acknowledged that she initiated contact with the disgraced financier on the day she was set to question President Donald Trump’s former fixer Michael Cohen but refused to say if she regretted the communication.
“I believe that Jeffrey Epstein had information, and I was going to get information to get at the truth,” Plaskett said. “I’m moving forward, and I think that that’s what we as American people should do.”
Plaskett, who drew scrutiny recently following the release of documents from the Epstein estate that revealed her texts with him, argued that Epstein was a constituent and that “lots of people were texting me. Lots of people were giving me information.”
“I’ve been a prosecutor for many years, and there are a lot of people who have information that are not your friends that you use to get information,” she added.
Still, she admitted that she “probably” would not have asked Cohen about former Trump executive assistant Rhona Graff if Epstein had not mentioned it to her first in their texts.
During the hearing, Cohen accused Trump of financial fraud, mentioning Graff in his testimony. Epstein appeared to flag the name to Plaskett.
“Cohen brought up RONA – keeper of the secrets,” Epstein texted, according to The Washington Post. The person believed to be Plaskett asked who — or what — RONA was, adding “Quick I’m up next is that an acronym.”
Epstein replied “RONA” was actually Trump’s former assistant. Plaskett then questioned Cohen about Graff, who said she was “involved in a lot that went on.”
Plaskett narrowly avoided a censure in the House on Tuesday, with lawmakers voting 209-214 against formally reprimanding the delegate and removing her from the House Intelligence Committee.
Both the House and Senate have officially passed legislation forcing the Justice Department to release more information about the federal case it built against Epstein. It now heads to Trump’s desk for his signature.
President Donald Trump and Speaker Mike Johnson will meet at the White House Tuesday with the executives of top artificial intelligence companies, according to two people granted anonymity to discuss private plans.
The meeting comes as Congress is coming under increasing pressure to put federal guardrails on AI development, as fears mount that technological advancements could soon spiral beyond human control.
Responding to some warnings that AI development was on track to cause human extinction by the end of the decade, Johnson has said he wants Trump and AI CEOs to “go in a big room, close the door and sort this out.” He has yet to endorse major legislative action to address the issue, as Trump has resisted calls for government regulations, citing concerns about lagging behind China.
The president and speaker were in attendance at the State Dinner on Thursday night in honor of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to Washington, as were OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Google CEO Sundar Pichai. It was not immediately clear which of these executives would be invited to next week’s meeting, and who will be participating.
News that the meeting had been scheduled was first reported by Axios.
A group of 10 Democrats has signed on to Rep. Greg Casar’s (D-Texas) bill that would ban superintelligence and pause advanced AI development until a vetting regime could be stood up.
Reps. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), both of whom are mulling a 2028 presidential run, are cosponsoring the bill, named the Ban Artificial Superintelligence Act.
Khanna, in a statement, noted that he convened a hearing this week on AI safety cooperation between the U.S. and China as ranking member of the House China Select Committee with AI experts who underscored the need for a verifiable pause on superintelligence.
AI superintelligence is an as-yet hypothetical form of the advanced technology that surpasses humans’ cognitive capabilities, but exactly when AI crosses the threshold into superintelligence remains contested. The bill would subject violators to a 20-year prison sentence.
The support from prominent progressives in the Democratic caucus comes as the party is navigating how they would approach AI regulation should they retake control of one or both chambers in November.
Other cosponsors include Reps. Analilia Mejia of New Jersey, Yassamin Ansari and Adelita Grijalva of Arizona, Val Hoyle of Oregon, Stephen Lynch of Massachusetts, Chuy García of Illinois, Chris Deluzio of Pennsylvania and Nydia Velázquez of New York.
“We absolutely have to slow down and regulate the advancement of dangerous AI technologies that have the potential to spiral out-of-control and threaten humanity,” Ansari said.
To Lynch, a string of recent AI-led cyberbreaches has “shown us that the advanced forms of this are out of control,” he said in an interview. “We haven’t really solved that control problem yet, nor have we got the alignment problem right yet.”
Casar’s bill, introduced this week with Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), is among the most stringent AI regulations proposed by either party.
Rather than focusing on bans as Casar and his progressive allies have done, centrist Democrats are looking to legislative proposals they say can address the technology’s risks without stifling innovation.
Senate Republicans are discussing whether to call up a data center utility costs bill as they make plans to stay in Washington next week rather than beat an early exit before the midterms.
Two GOP aides who spoke on the condition of anonymity said the Senate will remain in town amid pressure from some corners of the party to send members home early to campaign.
Asked if the Senate will stay next week, Majority Leader John Thune said Thursday it’s “looking that way.”
While some lawmakers had hoped to move a long-brewing bipartisan energy permitting deal, those hopes have evaporated, and GOP leaders are instead eyeing votes on the Ratepayer Protection Act — a top priority of endangered Ohio Sen. Jon Husted.
Thune said Thursday moving to the data-center-focused bill next week “is an option.” The Senate is also expected to take up a Democratic resolution condemning the Iran war and several presidential nominations.
The Ratepayer Protection Act easily passed the House earlier this month, but some Senate Democrats are arguing it does not go far enough and party leaders could be motivated to deny Husted a pre-election win.
Josh Siegel contributed to this report.
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