Trump’s Epstein NIGHTMARE deepens: Prison guard testifies as Congress eyes DOJ failures

[0:00] Donald Trump cannot keep this Epstein scandal out of the news or out of Congress's purview, [0:06] even with what you see, a lot of other things going on today. [0:09] The House Oversight Committee probing those last Epstein days, [0:13] which were under the oversight of the Trump DOJ and Bill Barr. [0:16] They heard from Tova Noel. [0:18] That's a former corrections officer who was crucial in the period leading up to Epstein's death. [0:24] This was private testimony. [0:25] Noel had already told federal investigators, as we've mentioned in some of our prior reporting, [0:29] that she believes, based on her service there, that she was the last person to see Epstein alive. [0:34] She did. [0:35] She says inmate counsel around 10 p.m. [0:38] After that check, she and a colleague, though, didn't do the other required checks. [0:44] And as we showed you in this timeline where we meticulously used prior government information [0:48] and newly revealed materials from the Epstein files, [0:52] there were a lot of questions on how the Trump DOJ and Bill Barr's team [0:57] dealt with what were those final days, questions of negligence or worse, [1:02] before Epstein was allowed to do something that inmates are not supposed to be able to do in custody, [1:06] which is allegedly take their own life or die. [1:09] In another protocol violation, they failed to do required overnight checks. [1:18] The inmate counts every 30 minutes, which was part of the protection and the whole point of having him in this special unit. [1:25] Instead, he's alone and unmonitored for eight hours. [1:28] This new law famously forced out the secret internal documents from the same probe, [1:32] showing other views within the FBI about the last person near Epstein's cell. [1:37] And that night, a blurry orange figure appears. [1:39] The original FBI log calls it that flash of orange could possibly be an inmate. [1:46] And note that careful description, because then the DOJ review of the same footage changes it to write, [1:54] quote, [1:55] Inmates are currently on lockdown. [1:57] It's possible someone is carrying inmate linen up the stairs. [2:01] Was that a good faith mistake or a malicious coverup? [2:04] DOJ indicted the guards on duty that night for lying about the inmate checks that never happened. [2:09] That's a big deal. [2:11] It added pressure, though, for those guards to cooperate in the probe, [2:14] and the DOJ later dropped those same charges. [2:17] That's some of what we've been detailing. [2:20] Congresswoman Stansbury, who was attending this high-stakes interview today, [2:25] does describe Noel's forthcoming, saying they focused on the details of the night, [2:30] some of which I touched on there in those questions, [2:32] and also discussing the loss of her job. [2:38] My takeaway is two things. [2:40] One, the system once again failed survivors. [2:43] It was clear incompetence and just a lack of oversight. [2:48] She does feel like her termination was unfair, [2:52] and that had it not been Jeffrey Epstein, she would not have been fired. [2:56] She didn't do her job, [2:58] but it seemed like people weren't doing their job generally at the MCC. [3:01] We're now joined by Democratic Congresswoman Melanie Stansbury on that critical House Oversight Committee. [3:08] Welcome back. [3:10] What do you think Congress learned today that's important in a series of events that we and other outlets have documented showed incompetence, [3:19] failures if not worse, from the then-Trump DOJ overseeing that prison? [3:23] Well, I certainly agree with my colleague from Virginia, which is that the system over and over again has failed survivors. [3:33] And, you know, this was the first time that we've heard from Ms. Noel about her firsthand account of what happened that night. [3:40] She herself stated in that interview that she does believe that it was a suicide, [3:47] but she did say that there were irregularities, not just that evening, but in general, [3:52] that there was understaffing, that she and her colleagues had been working long hours and doubles, [3:57] that they had not done the normal checks. [4:00] But my takeaway from the interview was not that it was unusual per Epstein. [4:06] In fact, I asked her that question. [4:07] Was there anything weird about that night or unusual about how the situation was handled? [4:12] And she said no. [4:13] But it's clear that the system was not well managed and that she feels, in her opinion, [4:20] that she was terminated and, you know, indicated that it was unfair. [4:25] Had it been any other inmate, the way the system was being managed, [4:29] that she would not have been fired? [4:32] Well, I mean, of all the issues here, I don't think whether the guards were sanctioned in the right way [4:36] is high on anyone's priority list. [4:39] They failed to do the checks. [4:42] The night they failed to do the checks, he's found dead. [4:44] There were, as you know, allegations of the shredded documents that have now been proven. [4:48] She may or may not have had visibility on that. [4:51] But again, that goes to what was going on inside the prison. [4:54] There were these payments. [4:55] I wanted to ask you about this. [4:56] Apparently, you and your colleagues asked about financial payments she got in these increments [5:02] before the Epstein death. [5:04] She said that was from working overtime. [5:06] Did that all scan to you? [5:09] And do you think that she and others could shed any light on how Epstein got special treatment? [5:16] Because, well, if it were chess, guards are like pawns. [5:19] And accountability doesn't stop with them. [5:21] But I've read the IG report. [5:24] Epstein was granted these exceptions. [5:25] He was using the phone call. [5:27] He had a final phone call leading up to the night of his death that was on the non-recorded line, [5:32] which was only allowed because a different guard, I should mention, [5:35] but a guard walked him to be allowed that. [5:39] I mean, there's a lot of these type of problems. [5:40] So your view on those issues and her credibility today? [5:47] Yeah. [5:47] I mean, I'm only here to report on the actual deposition that I sat in parts of today. [5:53] I can't speak to the broader management of the prison itself. [5:56] But what I can say is that she did validate that there was special treatment of Jeffrey Epstein. [6:02] She said that he was given access to a CPAP, that he had special sheets, [6:06] and that all indications were that he was being given special treatment inside the jail. [6:11] But I specifically asked her whether she felt that there were those inside the prison, [6:18] either in the management or in the guards or other prisoners who wished Jeffrey Epstein harm. [6:24] And she said no. [6:25] She also talked about witnessing the body as it was removed. [6:28] So, you know, there were absolutely irregularities in the prison. [6:33] But I don't think that of the members and staff that were in the room, [6:37] we walked away with the impression that outside of just blatant incompetence and mismanagement, [6:44] that there was a larger conspiracy at hand based on her testimony. [6:49] It doesn't mean that there wasn't, but based on what we witnessed in the room today. [6:53] Now, with respect to these payments, what she stated in the room was that they were cash payments that she deposited herself. [7:01] She said multiple times under oath that they had nothing to do with Jeffrey Epstein. [7:06] But I offered her the opportunity at the end of the day to clarify the source of the payments, and she declined. [7:13] So, yeah. [7:15] So what would cash payments be? [7:17] I mean, it doesn't it doesn't sound like something that would be connected to normal employee. [7:21] Yeah. [7:24] I mean, I think there were other parts of the interview that happened while I was not in the room in which she clarified that she was working potentially other jobs and overtime. [7:34] But but like I said, during the portion of the interview where I asked if she wanted to clarify for the record, she declined to do so. [7:41] So. [7:42] So. [7:42] So. [7:43] So. [7:43] So. [7:44] So. [7:44] So.