Ari Melber explained that the failure of the federal prison system to Jeffrey Epstein alive goes back to the policies of Trump.
Melber said:
Our next story tonight concerns one of the greatest U.S. Law enforcement failures in a long time. How the Trump administration managed to allow one of the most notorious prisoners in its custody Jeffrey Epstein to die in a suicide. Reports of a prior attempted suicide, the DOJ removed him from suicide watch and violated policy by removing a cellmate and not having required checkups twice an hour. Barr and Donald Trump are responsible for the DOJ’s prison system and the Epstein case provides a lens for how this all runs in the Trump era. Starved like many other federal programs, it has been running while missing roughly one-third of the needed staff. And while that explains part of why the ground level enforcement was so strained, Trump has also given the short shift at the top. Keeping four cabinet-level officials, having only temporary acting heads. Well, that approach also in play at the DOJ’s prison bureau which is only an acting director. The number two position totally empty. These are the kind of staffing holes Trump has tried to claim are some kind of positive.
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That approach to the federal prisons does not look strong or flexible now, and this is a fitting time to note the broader problem. Of the 700 plus major roles that Trump can appoint, he still left 141 with no nominee. The buck is supposed to stop with the person in charge of a department. If their boss leaves those posts open, then the buck presumably has so top with the people who left those posts open. Bill Barr and Donald Trump.
Video:
Ari Melber explains how Trump and Barr are responsible for Jeffrey Epstein's suicide. pic.twitter.com/h788dTxGnN
— Sarah Reese Jones (@PoliticusSarah) August 12, 2019
Ari Melber is right. Epstein’s suicide happened in the federal prison system that Barr and Trump oversee. It is Trump’s fault that the prison was understaffed by 30%. It is Trump’s fault that the prison bureau has no full-time director and no number two.
While Trump tweets Clinton conspiracy theories, he was the one who gave Jeffery Epstein the opportunity to commit suicide, and he and Barr the people who should be held accountable.
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
