Former US Attorney: 'Too Many Inconsistencies' To Declare Epstein's Death a Suicide
Former Utah U.S. Attorney Brett Tolman told “Fox & Friends” hosts that there are “too many gaps now and too many inconsistencies” to rule wealthy financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein’s death a suicide.
“We want to say this is just suicide and we want to be able to put it aside and understand what happened, but there are too many gaps now and too many inconsistencies, so it may be a while before we are able to put this to bed as either a homicide or a suicide,” Tolman said.
Epstein, 66, died in his cell on Aug. 10, having pleaded not guilty on a slew of charges including sex trafficking and criminal conspiracy.
The New York City medical examiner’s office ruled on Aug. 23 that he had committed suicide.
On Monday, graphic images of Epstein’s injuries and the scene inside his jail cell after he allegedly hanged himself inside his New York City jail cell were released, raising more questions about his supposed suicide.
Tolman said that the “biggest key right now is how much pressure is applied to the guards that were charged.”
“It may seem like they are the scapegoats, and in some ways they are, but they are the only ones that can piece together what occurred in those moments: why the body was moved against protocol, why there were so many monumental failures,” he said.
In November, federal law enforcement announced charges against two Federal Bureau of Prisons employees reportedly responsible for watching Epstein in the hours leading up to his death.
According to a Department of Justice news release, Tova Noel and Michael Thomas are charged with falsifying official documents to “defraud the United States by impairing the lawful functions” of the Metropolitan Correctional Center and bury workplace improprieties that may have indirectly resulted in Epstein’s death.
“As a prosecutor, I would be really concerned about some of the facts that are in this case that I either want to flush out with, you know, witnesses that were there or apply the pressure that I can try to get them to talk to us and tell us if there’s anything more that’s happening here,” Tolman said.
“Because we want to know, when you have the highest-profile criminal defendant and you have the largest budget of any agency in the Departement of Justice, and you can’t keep him safe while he is incarcerated?”
Forensic pathologist and former New York City Medical Examiner Dr. Michael Baden told the hosts of Fox’s “America’s Newsroom” on Monday that the images seem to be “more indicative of homicide.”
“I think there’s a lot of information that still hasn’t been revealed yet that is essential in order to arrive at a conclusion, whether this is a suicide or homicide,” Baden said. “I think the closing out of the case as a suicide so quickly was premature.”
The pictures from the New York City medical examiner’s office were first obtained by “60 Minutes” and released during its broadcast on Sunday.
Because of the ongoing investigations, the Justice Department and the FBI did not comment on the new images.
“We have examined so many photos, looked at the evidence, and talked to so many people,” “60 Minutes” correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi said. “But we still have many questions. And we’re looking forward to getting more answers.”
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