OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
Former Attorney General Bill Barr cleared the air this week over the conspiracy theories involving convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
Barr wrote in his new memoir that he wasn’t convinced at first that Epstein killed himself in his jail cell until he saw the surveillance footage. Epstein was a wealthy financier who was awaiting trial on charges he sexually abused dozens of young girls in the early 2000s.
“Barr was the AG when Epstein killed himself in prison in August 2019. He was tasked with investigating how Epstein was able to kill himself while awaiting trial for sex trafficking. Conspiracy theorists speculated that Epstein was murdered in order to stop him from telling prosecutors about who else was involved in his child sex trafficking ring, if anyone. His family attorneys also said that the marks on his neck looked as though he had been strangled and not hanged by a sheet,” the Daily Mail reported.
“The New York City medical examiner had conducted an autopsy and ruled that Epstein killed himself by hanging,” Barr wrote. “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,’ he wrote in his memoir, “One Damn Thing After Another.”
The report added:
Barr says he ‘personally’ reviewed the surveillance footage and can conclude that Epstein was alone in the cell.
‘The New York City medical examiner had conducted an autopsy and ruled that Epstein killed himself by hanging.
‘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,’ he wrote in the book, One Damn Thing After Another.
Instead of murder, Barr said a ‘perfect storm’ of failures by guards at The Metropolitan Correctional Center led to him being fired.
“The two guards who were on duty were supposed to be checking on Epstein every 30 minutes. They told investigators that they fell asleep, watched TV, and simply forgot their duties – which many conspiracy theorists did not believe,” the Daily Mail reported.
“Even President Donald Trump questioned if Epstein had in fact been murdered to stop him from snitching on his pedophile friends,” the outlet added.
