Here are the facts: Jeffrey Epstein was found unconscious on the floor of his jail cell with bruises on his neck. Jail officials tentatively considered it an attempted suicide and placed him on suicide watch. Six days later he was taken off suicide watch; there has been no explanation why.
Then prison officials told the Justice Department that security would be looking in on Epstein every 30 minutes and that he would have a cell-mate. All efforts to reduce the likelihood of suicide, although not as stringent as being on suicide watch.
The night that he hanged himself, the guards did not check on him every 30 minutes; apparently not at all. And, his cell-mate was moved to a different cell and he was alone.
Now let me relate a scene from The Godfather. Don Corleone was recuperating in a hospital under police guard. When his son visits, he finds that no police are guarding his father. He suspects that they have been removed on purpose to set things up for another assassination attempt. So the mob calls in its own security. When the hit men arrive, watched over by a crooked cop, they find they were outfoxed and are forced to drive away.
When I read the facts related above, I thought immediately of the scene from The Godfather. I am not a conspiracy theorist, but these facts are so odd, beyond odd for something as regimented and professional as a Federal prison, that they naturally make one suspect foul play.
I do not think, as many conspiracy theorists on the right or left have written, that Epstein was left alone so that he could be murdered. I think he was left alone so that he could commit suicide. A very smart move.
As to who was behind this. Those on the right with their Clinton theories are going down the same road they have often gone before. “Lock her up!” Trump on Saturday not surprisingly retweeted Epstein conspiracy theories involving Clinton. But while Bill Clinton flew on Epstein’s plane several times, I have read nothing about any personal interaction that could be considered dirt.
Trump on the other hand has been identified as being seen with models going to Epstein’s Manhattan town house. He and Epstein have been identified as being the only males at a private party at Mar-a-Lago with multiple women. He has also been quoted in New York Magazine as making this comment about Epstein, “He’s a lot of fun to be with. It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side.”
Trump would appear to have much more to be worried about from an Epstein investigation/trial than Bill Clinton. No sex accusation so far has knocked him down; but this had the potential of doing him real harm, both regarding his supporters and the threat of impeachment.
Further, Trump’s White House has been described as being a mob-like world with Trump being the mob boss. He is known to ask himself, “What would Roy Cohn advise? What would John Gotti do?” The parallel is chilling.
I’m not saying that Trump ordered this. But as an example, Henry II of England is said to have said, “Will no one rid me of this meddlesome priest,” which led to the murder of Thomas Becket, the Archbishop of Canterbury in 1170. One could imagine Trump saying something similar and one of his henchmen arranging Epstein to be left alone.
Oscar Wilde said that life imitates art. This may be one of those instances. May the investigation proceed.
