U.S. Senator Ben Sasse, R-Neb., questioned Dr. Kathleen Hawk Sawyer, director of the Federal Bureau of Prisons, during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Tuesday morning.
Sasse pushed for answers related to the investigation into the death of Jeffrey Epstein in August while in federal custody at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York City. Epstein, a convicted sex offender, was arrested on charges of sex trafficking minors in New York and Florida. He was expected to be able to testify about potential co-conspirators and additional victims.
Federal prosecutors on Tuesday charged two guards with falsifying records in connection to the Epstein case. Tova Noel and Michael Thomas, assigned to the unit Epstein was held, were accused of browsing the internet and lounging in the common area instead of conducting the required inmate checks.
Sasse, visibly irritated, condemned he lack of answers from the Bureau of Prisons in the Epstein investigation noting the erosion of public trust.
“[T]his death happened in the middle of August, early August,” Sasse said. “It’s Thanksgiving and you’re here to testify today, and you say you’re not allowed to speak about this incident. I think that’s crazy… You’ve got a whole bunch of women who were raped by this guy. This is a sex trafficking ring in the United States. This guy had evidence, he’s got co-conspirators, and there are victims out there who want to know where the evidence has gone… Let’s just be clear so we have a level set for everybody in this room. You’re in your job because of this crisis, right? You come here today and you say you can’t testify about it but the reason you’re director now is because the last guy got fired, right?”
Watch is full line of questioning below: