'Nothing' to indicate Epstein death was not a suicide: Attorney General William Barr

ByALEXANDER MALLIN ABCNews logo
Thursday, August 22, 2019

Attorney General William Barr said Wednesday that ongoing investigations into the death of Jeffrey Epstein have not produced information that contradict the medical examiner's determination that Epstein died by suicide.

"I have seen nothing that undercuts the finding of the medical examiner that this was a suicide," Barr told reporters, following a roundtable at a Dallas boxing gym where he was promoting the Department of Justice's Project Safe Neighborhoods Initiative. "Epstein's death, I think we will see, was a suicide and I do think there are some irregularities at the [Metropolitan Correctional Center]."

Barr said that the DOJ, FBI and Inspector General investigations into Epstein's death are, "well along," but added that there have been some unanticipated delays.

"A number of the witnesses are not cooperative," Barr said. "A number of them required having union representatives and lawyers before we could scheduled interviews."

Though a source with knowledge of Bureau of Prisons practices presented arguments to ABC News disputing Barr's comments, pointing to current BOP policy requires all employees to participate during any official investigation, the source said.

The source noted that failure to comply with these official administrative investigations can be subject to disciplinary actions.

The source said in these types of investigations, officers are bound by law to tell the truth and if the employee knowingly or willfully fails to tell the truth during this type of investigation, the employee could be subsequently prosecuted for lying to a federal investigator or even may also be charged with obstruction of justice.

Barr told reporters that he expected he will "soon" be able to provide initial results of the investigations to Congress, as well as to the general public.

This is a developing news story. Please check back for updates.

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