In a letter to US Attorney General William Barr, Republican Senators Ron Johnson Chuck Grassley urged him to make public the results of an investigation in accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein’s apparent suicide.
“We fully support your call for a thorough investigation of the circumstances surrounding Mr. Epstein’s death. True accountability, however, especially for the victims of Mr. Epstein, requires full transparency”, the senators pointed out.
They called on Barr to “make the results of the FBI [Federal Bureau of Investigation] and IG [Inspector General] investigations public as soon as they are completed”, also requesting that the Department of Justice (DOJ) keep them informed about any progress in the probe.
The letter comes after Barr announced last Saturday that he had instructed the FBI and the IG to investigate Epstein’s apparent suicide at the Metropolitan Correctional Centre (MCC) in New York City on 10 August.
US Attorney General Lambasts 'Serious Irregularities' at Metropolitan Correctional Centre
Barr underscored that he was “angry” and “appalled” over the circumstances related to Epstein’s death, pledging that the DOJ “will get to the bottom of what happened and there will be accountability”.
“The victims deserve justice and they will get it”, he noted, adding that the DOJ was “now learning of serious irregularities at this facility that are deeply concerning and demand a thorough investigation”.
A full-fledged probe into Epstein’s death was also demanded by US President Donald Trump, with his personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani suggesting “prisoners could kill him [Epstein], because they don't like alleged perverts ... and don't like people who might cooperate”.
The view was also echoed by New York Mayor Bill de Blasio who told the news network NY1 that that all those involved could say that they were watching Epstein “like a hawk” and that they were going to “take every measure to make sure nothing happens to him or he doesn’t do anything to himself”.
“And then conveniently suddenly all that is gone. He’s able to kill himself? It just boggles the imagination. Sometimes there’s just plain human error […] but this series of events is way too convenient”, De Blasio argued.
Results of Epstein's Autopsy Yet to Be Officially Announced
Part of the FBI’s probe pertains to suspicions that that the two guards tasked with watching Epstein may have been sleeping when he died in his MCC cell where he was reportedly found with marks on his neck, according to the results of autopsy.
While the results of Jeffrey Epstein's post-mortem medical examination have yet to be officially announced, The Washington Post cited unnamed sources as saying that an autopsy of US financier and accused sex trafficker has revealed that he had several broken bones in his neck.
Meanwhile, the guards are also suspected of falsifying log entries to show that they were checking Epstein in his cell every 30 minutes. Investigators do not rule out that Epstein died one to two hours before his body was found.
In a separate development, the FBI seized computer equipment from Epstein’s mansion located on 70-acre Little St. James Island in the Caribbean, owned by the late accused sext trafficker.
The seizure came as the FBI is searching for evidence to confirm claims by hundreds of women who accuse Epstein of sexually abusing them when they were underage girls.
Epstein was arrested on multiple counts of alleged sex trafficking and abuse of minors last month, with the Justice Department starting an investigation into his case in early 2019, ruling the non-prosecution agreement which followed his 2008 plea deal and 18-month prison sentence unconstitutional. His apparent suicide at the MCC last week quickly prompted conspiracy theories pertaining to Epstein’s powerful connections.
