CNN’s Jennings Calls Out Summers, Plaskett Over Epstein Emails

CNN senior political commentator Scott Jennings is calling out Democrats for what he says is a desperate and failed attempt to twist the unfolding Jeffrey Epstein scandal into a partisan weapon against Republicans — and against President Donald J. Trump.

During an appearance on the PBD Podcast with Patrick Bet-David, Jennings argued that Democrats tried to steer public attention away from their own mounting Epstein-related embarrassments. Instead, he said, the strategy “blew up in their face,” according to Mediaite.

At the center of the controversy is Rep. Jasmine Crockett, who recently took to the House floor and claimed that “a Jeffrey Epstein” had donated to Republican figures, including Lee Zeldin, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator. The claim collapsed almost immediately when it became clear the donor in question was not the deceased billionaire sex offender who died in 2019 while awaiting trial for sex trafficking.

“She’s the smartest person they could find so they sent her to do this,” Jennings said, suggesting Democratic leadership deployed Crockett in a frantic bid to shift the narrative.

According to Jennings, the motivation was obvious: “because they are desperate to make this a story about President [Donald] Trump and Epstein. And the only thing we found out in the last week is that it’s a story about Democrats and Epstein,” he said. “You got Larry Summers asking for dating advice from Epstein.”

Summers — who served as Treasury Secretary under President Bill Clinton — stepped down from a Harvard position after newly released emails revealed he sought Epstein’s advice on dating from November 2018 to July 2019, long after Epstein had registered as a convicted sex offender.

The Democratic troubles do not end there. Jennings also pointed to Del. Stacey Plaskett of the Virgin Islands, who has faced scrutiny for her communications with Epstein during a 2019 congressional hearing. Jennings argued that the disgraced financier appeared to shape the direction of her questioning.

Plaskett, who narrowly avoided censure in the House, has insisted she relied on Epstein solely for “information.”

“You got Plaskett being programmed by Epstein,” Jennings charged.

With their messaging in disarray, Jennings said Democrats put Crockett forward to reset the narrative — only to trigger another self-inflicted crisis.

“They lost the narrative, so they sent out their smartest person, Jasmine Crockett, to try to reset the narrative, and it blew up in their face,” he said.

“They may regret going down this road.”

Crockett has defended her incorrect claim regarding the donor named Epstein, attributing the mistake to the rushed nature of the debate over whether to censure Plaskett. She argued that she did not assert the donor was the Jeffrey Epstein central to the controversy.

“Listen, I never said that it was that Jeffrey Epstein,” she told CNN. “Just so that people understand, when you make a donation, your picture is not there.”

“And because they decided to spring this on us in real time, I wanted the Republicans to think about what could potentially happen because I knew that they didn’t even try to go through the FEC. So my team, what they did is they Googled. And that is specifically why I said, a, Jeffrey Epstein.”

Meanwhile, the federal government is preparing for a major transparency push. Attorney General Pam Bondi announced Wednesday that the Justice Department will release all unclassified records connected to Epstein within 30 days of President Donald Trump signing newly passed disclosure legislation.

Earlier that morning, the Senate formally transmitted the bill to the White House after approving it Tuesday night. The House overwhelmingly passed it 427–1.

Under the Epstein Files Transparency Act, Bondi must release all internal communications, investigative materials, and other documents related to Epstein and his associate Ghislaine Maxwell within 30 days of the law taking effect. Maxwell is currently serving a 20-year sentence for sex trafficking and related crimes. Epstein reportedly committed suicide in federal custody in 2019.

“We will follow the law,” Bondi said at a Wednesday press conference.

“The law passed both chambers last evening. It has not yet been signed, but we will continue to follow the law again while protecting victims but also providing maximum transparency.”