Durban - U.S. President Donald Trump said he wants a "full investigation" into the
circumstances surrounding financier Jeffrey Epstein's death at a
federal detention facility in New York City while awaiting trial
on sex trafficking charges.
"Basically what we're saying is we want an investigation. I
want a full investigation, and that's what I absolutely am
demanding. That's what our attorney general, our great attorney
general is doing. He's doing a full investigation," Trump told
reporters in Morristown, New Jersey.
Trump made the comments a day after U.S. Attorney General
William Barr vowed to carry on the Epstein investigation even
after the wealthy and well-connected money manager's death. Barr
has ordered the Justice Department's inspector general to look
into the matter.
Epstein, who once counted Trump and Democratic former
President Bill Clinton as friends, was arrested on July 6 and
pleaded not guilty to charges of sex trafficking involving
dozens of underage girls as young as 14.
Epstein was found dead on Saturday morning, having
apparently hanged himself in his cell at the Metropolitan
Correctional Center (MCC) in lower Manhattan.
The 66-year-old financier had been on suicide watch, but a
source said he was not on watch at the time of his death.
At the MCC, two jail guards are required to make separate
checks on all prisoners every 30 minutes, but that procedure was
not followed overnight, according to a source familiar with the
matter who spoke on condition of anonymity.
A growing chorus of lawmakers has demanded that the
government hold responsible people who allegedly helped Epstein
engage in sex trafficking.
Senator Ben Sasse, the Republican chairman of the Senate
Judiciary Oversight Subcommittee, on Tuesday called on Barr to
void a 2008 agreement that Epstein entered into with federal
prosecutors in Florida that has been widely criticized as too
lenient.
Under that deal, Epstein pleaded guilty to state
prostitution charges and served 13 months in jail, but was
allowed to leave the detention facility regularly for his
office.
Some of Epstein's accusers have called on the federal judge
overseeing that case to scrap portions of the agreement, which
provided immunity to Epstein's alleged co-conspirators. In a
letter to Barr, Sasse said the agreement should be thrown out
altogether.
"This crooked deal cannot stand," and should be voided to
"ensure that some measure of justice is finally delivered to
Epstein's victims who have been let down time and time again by
their government," Sasse said.