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.

Hochul primary challenger picks democratic socialist, once arrested for harassment, as running mate

DC Democrats Turn Their Backs on the Clintons: ‘They Bring Nothing But Baggage’

Government lawyer who told judge ‘this job sucks’ sent back to DHS

Democrats say Clintons’ agreement to testify undercuts subpoena push, won’t bring new Epstein answers

CBS News Pulls ’60 Minutes’ Episode After Contributor Appears in Epstein Files

Bill Gates Speaks Out on His Inclusion in Newly Released Epstein Documents

Noem vows criminal prosecution after catching alleged DHS ‘prolific leaker’

‘Melania’ Documentary Director Says ‘Divine Intervention’ Brought Him to the Surprise Hit Project

Anti-ICE activists plan to install 1,000 street blockades across Minneapolis

Putin and Trump plan dueling visits to China in battle to gain Xi’s favor

House GOP moves to block DC from stopping Trump tax cuts for tipped, overtime workers

Man accused of murdering National Guard member in DC pleads not guilty

Florida hospital worker allegedly stole wallet from 94-year-old patient, racked up $500 on credit cards

Breaking: Would-Be Trump Assassin Ryan Routh Learns His Sentence

Border czar Tom Homan calls anti-ICE roadblocks in Minneapolis a ‘joke’ after police chief disbands them

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.