AP Sources: Epstein Jail Guards Had Been Offered Plea Deal

Federal prosecutors offered a plea deal to two correctional officers responsible for guarding Jeffrey Epstein on the night of his death, but the officers have declined the offer, people familiar with the matter told The Associated Press.The existence of the plea offer signals the Justice Department is considering criminal charges in connection with the wealthy financier’s death at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York in August. The city’s medical examiner ruled Epstein’s death a suicide.

The guards on Epstein’s unit are suspected of failing to check on him every half hour, as required, and of fabricating log entries to show they had. As part of the proposed plea deal, prosecutors wanted the guards to admit they falsified the prison records, according to the people familiar with the matter. They spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not permitted to publicly discuss the investigation.

Agitators Sabotage Winter Olympics Opening, Throw Fireworks as Police Fight Back with Water Cannon, Tear Gas

Federal appeals court upholds Trump mass detention policy for illegal immigrants

Sheriff leading Guthrie investigation spotted at basketball game as family pleads again with alleged ransomers

Anti-ICE agitators arrested at federal building in Minneapolis after lewd objects hurled at law enforcement

Tulsi Gabbard denies wrongdoing over delayed whistleblower complaint referral to Congress members: ‘Baseless’

Nicki Minaj fans say they’re leaving Democrat Party as rapper’s politics spark backlash and praise

Newsom Investigates After Reports of Anti-Trump Social Media Censorship (Where Was He When Twitter Banned Trump?) Then the Embarrassing Truth Hit

Calm amid chaos: Noem defies calls to resign, touts border victory as shutdowns, storms, and riots swirl

This Senate Democrat wants voter ID for his campaign events — but not federal elections

Ellen DeGeneres Comes Crawling Back to US After Fleeing Post-Trump Victory, Buys $27 Million California Mansion

Virginia Democrat gives profanity-laced response to Cruz’s criticism of the state’s redistricting push

Trump Admin Discovers ‘Staggering’ Billions Stolen in Suspected California Small Business Fraud

Two teens arrested after 15-year-old shot near Washington DC’s Union Station

Bishop Ronald Hicks replaces Dolan as Archbishop of New York with installation at St Patrick’s

Trump Announces ‘Clues’ Found in Nancy Guthrie Disappearance: ‘We Could Have Some Answers’

The U.S. attorney’s office in Manhattan had no comment on the plea offer. Both guards were working overtime because of staffing shortages. They have been placed on administrative leave while the FBI and the Justice Department’s inspector general investigate the circumstances surrounding Epstein’s death. The 66-year-old had been awaiting trial on charges of sexually abusing teenage girls. Epstein was placed on suicide watch after he was found on his cell floor July 23 with bruises on his neck. Multiple people familiar with operations at the jail have said Epstein was then taken off suicide watch about a week before his death, meaning he was less closely monitored but still supposed to be checked on every 30 minutes.

Epstein’s death exposed mounting evidence that the chronically understaffed Metropolitan Correctional Center may have bungled its responsibility to keep him alive. Guards often work overtime day after day, and other employees are pressed into service as correctional officers. Falsification of records has been a problem throughout the federal prison system. Kathleen Hawk Sawyer, who was named director of the Bureau of Prisons after Epstein’s death, disclosed in a Nov. 4 internal memo that a review of operations across the agency found some staff members failed to perform required rounds and inmate counts but logged that they had done so anyway. “Falsification of information in government systems and documents is also a violation of policy, and may be subject to criminal prosecution as well,” Hawk Sawyer wrote in the memo to top prison officials, a copy of which was obtained by the AP.