Rep. Jasmine Crockett refuses to apologize or back down on rhetoric

Texas Rep. Jasmine Crockett argued on Saturday that fiery “clapbacks” are more important than accuracy in this current political environment.

After recalling a verbal scuffle when she had said then-Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene had a “’bleach blonde, bad built butch body,’” Vox interviewer Amistead Herndon asked, “As much as the phrase blew up, should we want our politicians to be clapback artists?”

“I think that in this moment you have to understand that politics has changed,” Crockett replied.

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Texas Rep. Jasmine Crockett has a history of controversial rhetoric. (Jemal Countess/Getty Images for MoveOn)

She went on to argue 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.”

.”When I see the moment on the House where you seem to accuse Republican Lee Zeldin of taking money from Jeffrey Epstein, but it seemed like if it was not the same person, I wonder, like, is there times in which the rhetoric goes too far?” Herndon asked. “There are times in which you should say, you know, ‘Maybe I messed that one up?’”

“No, not in this environment. I don’t,” Crockett replied. “I think that, you know, we are really in uncharted territory.”

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Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, speaks to reporters after announcing her run in the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate on Dec. 8, 2025, in Dallas. (AP Photo/LM Otero)

“So, I hear your argument that you’re reflecting the urgency necessary and, so, that’s why you won’t give an inch,” Herndon said.

“Correct,” Crockett replied. 

Crockett sparked a controversy in November when the congresswoman dropped New York Republican Lee Zeldin’s name while listing figures and entities she said had taken money from “somebody” by the name of Jeffrey Epstein. 

Zeldin fired back in a post to X, noting that the donation to one of his former campaigns was from a physician who merely has the same name as the disgraced, deceased financier.

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Former Rep. Lee Zeldin slammed Jasmine Crockett’s rhetoric in a viral post. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

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“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,” Zeldin wrote, reposting another person’s post that featured footage of Crockett’s comments. Zeldin then exclaimed in all caps, “NO [clap emoji] FREAKIN [clap emoji] RELATION [clap emoji] YOU [clap emoji] GENIUS!!!”

When CNN’s Kaitlan Collins confronted Crockett about Zeldin’s post that pushed back against the notion that he had accepted a donation from the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, the Texas Democrat said that she “never said that it was that Jeffrey Epstein.” 

“Unlike Republicans, I at least don’t go out and just tell lies,” she later said.

“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,” Crockett said later during the interview.