In the initial GOP Presidential debate on Wednesday, former President Donald Trump decided against participating live. Instead, he opted to broadcast a pre-recorded conversation with former Fox News anchor Tucker Carlson.
In the interview, Carlson posited that Epstein might have been the victim of foul play, suggesting that his possession of potentially incriminating knowledge about prominent government figures could have led to his demise. Additionally, Carlson challenged the veracity of former Attorney General Bill Barr’s statements regarding the details of Epstein’s passing.
Carlson inquired, “Is there a chance Epstein’s death wasn’t a suicide?”
Trump responded: “Oh sure it’s possible. I mean, I don’t really believe it. I think he probably committed suicide. He had a life with, you know, beautiful homes, and beautiful everything and he all of a sudden he’s incarcerated and not doing very well,”
Trump added: “I would say that he did, but there are those people — there are many people believe, I think you’re one of them right, a lot of people think that he was killed. He knew a lot on a lot of people.”
The full interview with Tucker is noted below:
Ep. 19 Debate Night with Donald J Trump pic.twitter.com/ayPfII48CO
— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) August 24, 2023
The Post Millennial reported that Carlson similar claims about the “infamous sexual predator….who died in a Manhattan jail cell in 2019 as he awaited trial for child sex trafficking and conspiracy, while…appearing on the ‘Full Send’ podcast last month.”
As per The Daily Caller’s account, Carlson challenged Trump’s assertion that Epstein most likely died by suicide. Tucker insisted, “I believe he was murdered. I want to clarify that I’m not typically someone who subscribes to conspiracy theories. I generally accept information at face value. However, upon closer examination, it becomes evident that the Attorney General of the United States—your own Attorney General—misrepresented the truth about Epstein’s demise. This raises the question, why?”
In a recent development, the Inspector General of the Department of Justice (DOJ) revealed that Epstein’s demise was not captured on camera due to the Metropolitan Correctional Center’s (MCC) failure to carry out necessary camera system repairs on August 9, 2019, just a day before Epstein’s death.
The report highlighted that Epstein had informed prison staff about his lack of suicidal thoughts, yet he apparently made an attempt to hang himself in his cell on July 23, 2019. An individual associated with the jail’s psychology department described Epstein as “distraught, sad, and somewhat confused,” though no mental health concerns were officially reported.
Trump responded to Carlson’s statement: “Certainly, it [Epstein’s incarceration] wasn’t well done. They had no cameras, they had no anything. Everybody was sleeping — a case could be made, look, I’m not gonna get involved in it but I can tell you a case could be made either way. But, it certainly wasn’t the most well-run place.”
Trump additionally voiced dissatisfaction with Barr’s handling of inquiries into Epstein’s passing, related records, and allegations of electoral misconduct during the 2020 election.
Trump said of Barr: “[He] became so petrified, so frightened of being impeached, they were gonna impeach him, I don’t know if you remember. That’s not a big moment in history. But they said, ‘we’re going to impeach,’ they play a much rougher game the left — the lunatics and they were gonna impeach Bill Barr and he was petrified.”
Trump additionally voiced dissatisfaction with Barr’s handling of inquiries into Epstein’s passing, related records, and allegations of electoral misconduct during the 2020 election.
