Less than a week after disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein was found dead in a New York jail, the Justice Department under the first Trump administration shredded “huge amounts of paperwork.”
A Bureau of Prisons “After-Actions team” went through the jail and shredded the files, according to a report drafted by an FBI official whose name has been redacted. The document is part of the tranche of files released by the Department of Justice earlier this year.
“[Redacted] has never seen this amount of bags of shredded documents coming out to be put in the dumpster at the rear gate of the MCC,” the report said.
“Last week Epstein hung himself, and there is an ongoing investigation. There was a BOP After-Actions team that come, and they are supposed to review what happened,” the report continued.
The report also indicated that at least one inmate was also used to help dispose of the documents in a dumpster.
“[Redacted] was bringing back bags of shredded papers, around 4 or 5 bags, and caller brought them into the gate to throw into the dumpster. [Redacted] told caller that the after-action team is shredding huge amounts of paperwork,” the report reads.
“Caller found it suspicious that an after-action team charged with investigating would be shredding huge amounts of paperwork with all of the officials from the AIG, FBI and BO[P] in the building in the middle of an investigation. Those giving instructions to [redacted] said, ‘Make sure you get that box too,’” the document said, referring to the assistant inspector general.
The document noted that the dumpster was being picked up that Monday, and said “if anyone cares about what was shredded, it needs to be picked up before Monday by 8am.”
The circumstances surrounding Epstein’s death, which was officially ruled a suicide, have given way to several conspiracy theories.
The New York Post reported Saturday on newly released surveillance footage of two prison guards casually walking near Epstein’s cell the night of his death. The guards can be seen pacing back and forth and talking on the phone, instead of doing their mandatory 3:00 a.m. rounds.
Both guards were later accused of falsifying records to say that they checked on Epstein throughout the night, but criminal charges were later dropped.
Epstein is believed to have killed himself sometime between 10:30 p.m. on Aug. 9, 2019, and when his body was found the next morning, around 6:30 a.m. He had been on suicide watch before being found dead.
Then-Attorney General William Barr said he was “appalled” to learn of Epstein’s death while in federal custody, and said it raised “serious questions that must be answered.”
The Department of Justice at the time also directed the New York City Police Department to “stand down” their investigation into Epstein just days after his death. The DOJ also asked the New Mexico DOJ at the time to suspend its investigation into Epstein’s Zorro Ranch property. That property is alleged to be the burial site of “two foreign girls.”
The Trump administration has been embroiled in controversy surrounding Esptein for months now.
Public demand for the Epstein files to be released picked up in June after the FBI and DOJ released a joint memo stating that Epstein did not possess a “client list” and that he died by suicide.
Trump’s MAGA base was enraged by the memo, viewing it as some sort of cover-up, as both FBI Director Kash Patel and his deputy at the time, Dan Bongino, had spent years peddling conspiracies about the circumstances of Epstein’s death.
Trump, who enjoyed a decades-long friendship with Epstein, has claimed the files are a “Democrat hoax” and told his supporters to “move on” from the files related to the late sex predator.
The DOJ finally released about half of the files, amounting to roughly 3.5 million documents, earlier this year. The heavily redacted documents detailed the involvement of numerous high-profile and powerful individuals. The president’s name is mentioned thousands of times, though the White House has repeatedly denied allegations made against Trump detailed in the files.
