It's common for some lawmakers to twist the truth to make their opponents look bad, but it's less common for them to flat out lie about their opponent about something that's easily proven false.

Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) did just that when she claimed that Jeffrey Epstein--the late financier and sex trafficker--funded Lee Zeldin's campaign.

“We gonna expose it all!” Crockett said while claiming Zeldin was connected to that particular Jeffrey Epstein.

Not that Jeffrey Epstein

There were actually two men named Jeffrey Epstein who donated to Zeldin's campaign, but both of them did so after Epstein died in prison in 2019, and both were provably not THE infamous Jeffrey Epstein who is now dead.

One of the donors was Dr. Jeffrey Epstein of Manhasset, NY, and the other was a beverage distribution company owner from New Brunswick, NJ.

When the New York Post looked into it, their reporters didn't find any contributions to Zeldin from the Jeffrey Epstein Crockett was referring to--the only one who could make a candidate look bad for accepting his contribution.

Zeldin was in the House from 2015 to 2023.

Tit for tat

Crockett also called out now-retired Sen. Mitt Romney, the NRCC, Lee Zeldin, George Bush, WinRed, McCain-Palin, and Rick Lazio for taking contributions from "that" Epstein, but how many of them actually received those contributions from one or both of the other Jeffrey Epsteins?

Crockett seems to be playing a game of tit for tat with Republicans with her accusations, which came right after a defeated Republican attempt to censure Virgin Islands delegate Stacey Plaskett (D) over texts showing she had significant contact with Epstein long after he was accused of sex trafficking.

Republicans also revealed that supporters of House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) invited Epstein to a private meet-and-greet in 2013.

It seems like for their part, Republicans were trying to get ahead of accusations about their members' relationships with Epstein.

Ensnaring politicians

It should be kind of expected that Epstein, who was a big political donor to a lot of campaigns on both sides of the aisle, would develop some relationships with some of those politicians.

Accepting a donation is different from participating in Epstein's elicit activities, or even giving a wink, wink, nod, nod and looking the other way.

Politicians who did that (which might include Trump, if rumors are to be believed) may have something to be ashamed of, but it's clear that a lot of well-meaning people got caught in Epstein's net even if they were later abhorred by his actions when they found out.