Attorney General William Barr greets members of the Cleveland FBI field office's SWAT team before boarding an aircraft at Burke Lakefront Airport, Thursday, Nov. 21, 2019, in Cleveland. Barr participated in a roundtable discussion with members of local, state and federal law enforcement, and is en route to Montana, where he is scheduled Friday to address missing and murdered indigenous persons. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)
November 22, 2019 - 2:25 AM
Attorney General William Barr says Jeffrey Epstein’s death was the result of a “perfect storm of screw-ups.”
Barr’s comments in an interview Thursday with The Associated Press come days after two correctional officers responsible for guarding Epstein were charged with falsifying prison records.
Officers Tova Noel and Michael Thomas are accused of sleeping and browsing the internet instead of checking on Epstein, who killed himself in his jail cell in August. The wealthy financier was awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.
The indictment against the officers is a damning glimpse of safety lapses inside a high-security unit at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York.
Barr says federal prosecutors in New York are making good progress while they have continued to investigate the allegations against Epstein. He says he’s hopeful people “will see results soon.”
A lawyer for Thomas, Montell Figgins, said both guards are being “scapegoated.” Noel’s lawyer, Jason Foy, said he hoped to “reach a reasonable agreement” with the government that could avoid a trial.
News from © The Associated Press, 2019