The two prison guards who were
supposed to be watching over
Jeffrey Epstein the day that he
hanged himself,
have now admitted that they
falsified records from that night.
But as part of a plea deal,
they are unlikely to face any
time in jail.
This story is out of control, and
it still continues to raise
questions about what really
happened on the night that
Jeffrey Epstein died.
Now, let me give you the details on
what we know about the trial,
what this plea deal is, and
then we can talk about our own
analysis on this.
As Slate reports,
the two Bureau of Prisons employees
Michael Thomas and Tova Noel,
had been charged with ignoring
their duties and lying about it.
Specifically, prosecutors accused
them of napping and
browsing the internet rather than
checking on Epstein every 30
minutes like they were supposed
to on the night he was found dead
in his Manhattan jail cell.
So they weren't watching over him,
and apparently in order to avoid
getting in trouble, they falsified
records to make it appear as though
they had been checking on him.
The two guards had been charged
with lying on prison records
to make it seem as though they had
made the necessary checks on
Epstein before he was found dead.
They had pleaded not guilty to
making false records and conspiracy
to defraud the United States.
But now they admitted to having,
quote, willfully and knowingly
completed materially false records
regarding their rounds.
So, it's important to note that
their change in plea needs to be
accepted by the judge, and if the
judge accepts it, it is unlikely,
as part of the plea deal that they
will serve any time behind bars.
Now, that is an interesting
question on its own, that maybe
we should talk about right now,
if you're open to it Cenk, but
also, it still continues to raise
questions in my mind about what
happened that night and
I'll explain why in just a minute.
Cenk- >> Yeah.
>> If they falsified records,
as part of this plea deal,
do you think it makes sense for
them to avoid any time behind bars?
>> It 100% depends on the context.
So if we're talking about a random
case, turns out that their excuses,
one of them was napping and
the other one was checking sports
scores and buying furniture online.
Okay, when I first heard the guards
were conveniently off duty,
I thought, man,
they better have a good excuse.
Then I realized as they came up
with this weak sauce excuse, they
actually didn't need one at all
because napping sounds believable,
shopping online sounds believable,
checking sports scores sounds
super believable, all of it.
So, and
why does it sound believable?
Because most of the time when
things go wrong at work,
it's laziness, right?
And so would you be shocked to find
out that some guards were lazy?
And let's say that nothing went
wrong that day and they falsified
records, should they go to prison?
Well, it sounds pretty harsh to
send them to prison for
falsifying records.
There should definitely be
consequences at work- >> Yes.
>> Etc.
But if the most important prisoner
in the country hung himself because
you were snoozing or whatever, and
then you falsified records,
yeah, there should be huge criminal
responsibility.
One, why,
it had a huge impact what you did.
Two, this was not a normal
situation, you were supposed to be
incredibly vigilant here.
And then number three, honestly,
so you can get them to flip.
If you say to them,
slap on the wrist,
you don't have to worry about it,
well, the next time somebody
guarding Ghislaine Maxwell,
his co-conspirator who's currently
in prison, they could say, somebody
offers me, I don't know, make up
a number, we don't know, obviously
this is the speculation part.
Somebody offers me a million bucks
and I could be set for life, or 2
million or whatever the number is,
and I just have to pretend I was
napping, and then they let me off,
there's no criminal offense at all.
I might have trouble at work,
who cares?
I just got a couple of
million bucks.
Then of course every guard can be
bribed super easy,
that's why it's a criminal offense.
>> Yeah, and remember
they initially pled not guilty, and
then they decided to change
it based on this plea agreement.
Sometimes individuals will agree to
a plea or
plea agreement because they're
worried that they're going to
deal with an unfair case or they're
going to be found guilty anyway.
I don't know what their motivating
factors were, but
I do also think it's important to
mention that their defense attorney
has cited the fact that they had
been on multiple long shifts
without any breaks.
This particular correctional
facility has been understaffed,
chronically understaffed for
a while, and so I looked into that
and that's actually true.
So the napping at worked doesn't
appear to be lazy officers
not doing their jobs, it seems like
they were overworked and
as a result fell asleep on the job.
But anyway- >> No,
we don't know that.
I mean, I have no idea what their
motivation is.
>> Yeah. >> They might be 100%
telling the truth, they might be
100% lying, I have no idea.
Were they overworked?
Sure.
Is that a good enough excuse for,
there's a guy who has information
on all the most powerful men
in the world, who theoretically had
suicidal thoughts before, so what,
I'll take a nap.
No, obviously you should be fired,
and yes, in this case I think there
should be criminal consequences.
>> Okay, so now let's get to some
of the things that have continued
to raise questions in my mind.
So, this was honestly a mix of
awful, either mistakes, I don't
know if they were intentional,
obviously I don't want to
speculate.
But there were multiple things that
happened that night that led to
Jeffrey Epstein doing what he did,
taking his own life.
Okay, so Epstein was left without
a cellmate for instance,
even though he had made a suicide
attempt three weeks earlier.
On the night that he had hanged
himself, he had been taken off
suicide watch, which I think is
strange, especially when he-
>> Very strange.
And then here's the other thing.
So the New York Times reports that,
security cameras did not show
anyone entering the cellblock where
he was housed, the indictment said,
suggesting that despite
the conjecture and conspiracy
theories swirling around him and
his connections to powerful people,
his death was a suicide as
New York City's chief medical
examiner had ruled.
But I thought that
was an strange excerpt in that
New York Times piece.
And so, I remembered, I could
recall that there were actually
issues with the security cameras.
And I wanted to check in on that
and see what really happened.
And yeah,
two cameras that malfunctioned
outside the jail cell where
financier Jeffrey Epstein died.
The two cameras were within view of
the Manhattan jail cell where he
was found dead on August 10, 2019.
He had been taken off suicide watch
prior to his death.
So what happened to
the cameras, right?
Well, as Reuters, Mark Hosenball
over at Reuters reported,
the cameras were sent to Quantico,
Virginia, the site of a major FBI
crime lab where agents and forensic
scientists analyze evidence.
>> So Ana, when I read a good
article, I immediately go to
see who wrote it, and I was so
unsurprised to find out this was
Mark Hosenball.
He's one of the best reporters in
the country, very quiet,
understated guy.
We used to interview him
all the time back when he worked at
Newsweek.
He's just a no nonsense straight
reporter, right?
And so he has the actual news at
Reuters, which is the two cameras
that looked at his jail cell
happened to malfunction, hell no.
And guys, I have great credibility
on this, because on the day
that he died I said to you guys,
if the cameras by his cell worked,
then it was likely a suicide.
If magically they happened to
malfunction then they killed him.
And we found out later,
will you look at that?
Golly gee, the two cameras right by
his jail cell both malfunctioned.
The two guards who were supposed to
look at him both happened to fall
asleep or
be looking at the Internet.
>> Could it just be a crazy
coincidence that they
didn't give him a cellmate,
that the two guards who were meant
to check in on him just fell asleep
on the job and didn't do their job,
and that the two cameras facing his
cell just happened to malfunction?
Maybe it's just a crazy [LAUGH]
coincidence.
>> Right, but
our whole lives we've been told
by places like the New York Times,
ignore your lying eyes and
believe the government.
I mean, look at the way the New
York Times framed that story.
They didn't tell you about the two
video cameras that looked at his
cell malfunctioning, they told you
about some other far away cameras
that were not malfunctioning.
Why did they frame it that way?
Why did Reuters have the real
story and the New York Times
had a weird cover up?
And I don't think that
the New York Times is in on it and
that there's some sort of
conspiracy that involves
the reporter, the editor, etc.
No, it's their frame of mind,
whatever the official government
story is, it is very likely to be
right, I bow my head, right?
And that's what the New York Times
does all the time.
That's why I respect Mark Hosenball
for writing and a very normal,
straight, factual story.
So anyways, look guys, that is
a hell of a series of coincidence.
Is it possible?
Yes, it is possible.
Do I know for sure?
I don't know,
I wasn't in the cell, right?
And so,
he apparently tried to commit
suicide three weeks before that.
If that's true, I don't know,
if that's true either, but if
that's true, well, okay, then maybe
he tried a second time because he
had an opportunity, because
the guards weren't there, etc.
But if I was investigators,
the number one person I would look
at is who made the decision to
remove his- >> Cellmate?
>> Cellmate, right?
And take him off the suicide
list, okay?
Because whoever made that decision
is higher up than the guards, and
that is a very,
very questionable decision.
I would look at the chain of
command of those video cameras, and
did anyone repair them before they
malfunctioned.
And so if it sounds like I'm not
believing the official government
story, yes, it's true,
I am not believing
the official government story.
And if you just believe it because
the government said it,
you're not a real reporter.
It doesn't mean the other side is
true, it means we certainly don't
know what happened.
And it looks as deeply suspicious
as any case I've ever seen, and
it's about the guy who knew some of
the most powerful men in the world
were child molesters.
So, now we're all supposed to go,
no, no, no, bow your heads,
I don't accept the official story,
it sounds ridiculous.
And is the FBI going to actually
look at the camera and
figure out what happened and
come back with a real story?
Maybe, but oftentimes it doesn't
turn out that way.
And if I was Ghislaine Maxwell, his
co-conspirator that's sitting in
prison right now, I'd be the most
nervous person on the planet.
You better hurry up and
tell people what you know already,
because magically, your cameras and
your guards and your cellmates can
disappear overnight as well.