Donald Trump Jr. questioned the circumstances surrounding the death of financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein on a podcast Thursday and claimed that Epstein had been “thrown out” of the Trump Organization’s Mar-a-Lago resort over rumors of his behavior.
In conversation with comedian Jim Norton and co-host Sam Roberts on SiriusXM radio, the president’s eldest son questioned why Epstein, who had previously been on suicide watch before his death, was not surveilled before his alleged suicide. New York’s medical examiner ruled that Epstein died by suicide.
{mosads}”Man, there’s a lot of coincidence there,” Trump Jr. said on the podcast. “I’m not going to say yes or no, but a guy who’s there, he’s magically dead within hours of being off of suicide watch the two cameras that are on him happened to go out.”
“The two guards just happen to … Man, it seems like a lot of coincidence,” he added, before telling Norton “He was literally, he was literally thrown out of Mar-a-Lago because some of the rumors and all of this stuff.”
Epstein’s death has been the source of conspiracy theories for months, since August. A law enforcement source said at the time that the FBI was investigating why two cameras outside his cell were apparently inoperable at the time of his death.
A former medical examiner hired by Epstein’s brother to conduct an independent investigation said this week that he believed the multimillionaire was murdered, adding fuel to theories about the well-connected businessman’s death. Several political figures, including former President Clinton and President Trump, have been associated with Epstein in the past. The alleged connections drew criticism given the businessman’s past with sexual misconduct and assault.
“I think the evidence points to a homicide rather than a suicide,” Michael Baden, the former medical examiner, said Wednesday on Fox News.
“Because there are three fractures in the hyoid bone, the thyroid cartilage that are very unusual for suicide and more indicative of strangulation — homicidal strangulation,” Baden added.
New York City’s Chief Medical Examiner Barbara Sampson fired back in a statement “firmly” standing by her previous ruling, saying: “The cause is hanging, the manner is suicide.”