Former Attorney General Bill Barr stated there was no evidence of foul play in the death of disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, despite a “perfect storm of failures” that led many people to suspect otherwise.
“The New York City medical examiner had conducted an autopsy and ruled that Epstein killed himself by hanging,” Barr wrote in his new book, “One Damn Thing After Another,” according to a Fox News piece published Wednesday. “Other evidence also pointed to suicide, but it was the video evidence that confirmed the medical examiner’s finding.”
“I personally reviewed that video footage. It shows conclusively that between the time Epstein was locked in his cell at 7:49 p.m. on the night of August 9 and the time he was discovered the next morning at 6:30 a.m., no one entered his tier,” Barr added.
Disturbing evidence in Jeffrey Epstein’s autopsy points to his murder: pathologist https://t.co/WDgxS8A8O8 pic.twitter.com/IZEKYd5zkE
— New York Post (@nypost) January 16, 2020
Suspicions surrounding Epstein’s death were raised almost immediately after the financier was found dead on the morning of Aug. 10, 2019. Reports of alleged shrieking from Epstein’s cell the morning of his death, coupled with revelations that guards who were supposed to be monitoring Epstein every 30 minutes hadn’t checked on him for hours, only served to fan the flames of speculation.
Epstein was also removed from suicide watch after a previous attempt to end his life and his cellmate had been transferred, leaving him alone, Fox News reported. (RELATED: Surveillance Footage Outside Jeffrey Epstein’s Jail Cell Is Missing, Prosecutor’s Say)
Further questions were raised after autopsy findings were challenged by former New York City Medical Examiner Dr. Michael Baden. Baden, who was hired by Epstein’s brother to look into the death, told “60 Minutes” in an interview “the forensic evidence released so far, including autopsy, point much more to murder and strangulation than the suicide and suicidal hanging,” according to the New York Post.
Multiple law enforcement officials state Epstein tied one end of a prison sheet around his neck and the other around a bed railing before kneeling forward and hanging himself, reports the New York Post.
Barr conceded that because there were so many failures surrounding Epstein’s death it “understandably led people to suspect the worst.” (RELATED: Rasmussen Poll: 42% Think Epstein Was Murdered)
Barr also expressed that it gave him no consolation to know that an “odious criminal” was dead, stating that he was “deeply disappointed” that Epstein was not made to answer for his crimes with a fair trial.