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.

Congress faces holiday crunch as health care fix collides with shrinking calendar

Republicans divided over whether to salvage Obamacare — or replace it — ahead of subsidy deadline

Idaho bar owner faces death threats after viral promo offering free beer for assisting ICE

Judge rules evidence linked to James Comey’s ally is off limits to DOJ

EXCLUSIVE: Trump-led Kennedy Center nearly doubles fundraising from Biden era, smashing record with $23M haul

Hegseth hints at major defense spending hike, reveals new details on Trump’s anti-narco-terrorism operations

Hegseth hints major defense spending increase, reveals new details on Trump’s anti-narcoterrorism operations

Dr. Oz warns Walz to address alleged Somali Medicaid fraud or lose federal funding: ‘We’ll stop paying’

Disgraced teacher accused of using Google Docs to groom underage student before alleged sex crimes

Louisiana manhunt continues as dangerous inmate charged with attempted murder remains on the run

Photos: Incredibly Creepy New Epstein Island Photos Released – Chilling Masks, Eerie Dentist Chair, Weird Writing on Chalkboard

This week in Campus Radicals: Christian student flunked, Jewish students shaken, conservative groups blocked

Fact Check: Do Somalis Contribute More to Minnesota’s Bottom Line Than They Take?

Mass killings fall to lowest level in nearly two decades, national database shows

Amid Billion-Dollar Somali Fraud Scandal, Minn. Gov. Tim Walz Reveals What He’s ‘Deeply Concerned’ About: Trump Insult

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.