What’s optically terrible but not proven criminal:

Actively courting a known 2008 convicted sex offender (post-Florida plea deal) for years, meeting at his mansion, texting him for dirt on political opponents during a hearing.
The “I don’t recall” about firm work and claims she only found out about donations from the media look shaky next to the emails/deposition.

Recent political fallout (Nov 2025):
House Republicans tried to censure her and boot her from the Intelligence Committee over the 2019 texts. It failed narrowly (209–214), almost entirely along party lines (a few GOP votes/presents sank it). Democrats closed ranks; Jamie Raskin called it “just a constituent call.” It became a partisan football rather than a serious ethics reckoning.

Bottom line: The connections are deeper and more deliberate than your average “he was a donor” politician story — she sought him out repeatedly, even after his 2008 conviction. Nothing proves she knew about or participated in the trafficking itself, but the judgment looks awful in hindsight, and the new texts make her “unaware constituent outreach” explanation harder to swallow. It’s the kind of thing that fuels endless conspiracy threads, but the paper trail is real and embarrassing rather than clearly criminal.