Overview

• CBS News obtained confidential corrections memos stating Epstein told officers he had received violent threats for a week from cellmate Nicholas Tartaglione and feared retaliation if he reported them.
• The memos recount Tartaglione’s account that he found Epstein slumped on the floor with fabric around his neck and shouted for help while insisting he had done nothing.
• Officers’ notes say Epstein insisted he was not suicidal, told staff he was “too much of a coward” to kill himself, and cited reasons to live in the days that followed.
• Epstein was placed on suicide watch on July 24, 2019 and removed on July 29, before being found dead on August 10 in a death officially ruled a suicide.
• Tartaglione has denied assaulting Epstein and has claimed he tried to help, while a newly released transcript shows Bill Barr characterized the July 23 episode as a suicide attempt and some inmates questioned that conclusion.