Chris Cuomo questions Epstein’s brother on whether Trump was capable of having late financier killed

WASHINGTON, DC: Former CNN host Chris Cuomo questioned disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein's brother, Mark Epstein, about whether President Donald Trump could be capable of having his brother killed to escape embarrassment.

Jeffrey Epstein died on August 10, 2019, in his jail cell at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York City. He had earlier tried to end his life but failed and was placed on suicide watch.

Mark Epstein says Trump would do anything 'to help himself'

During an interview, Chris Cuomo asked Mark Epstein, "You really believe Donald Trump is capable of having your brother murdered to spare himself embarrassment?"

"Absolutely. He doesn’t seem to have a limit on what he would do to help himself," Mark Epstein said, as Cuomo further questioned him, "What experience did you ever have with his personally that made you think that he would be that cruel?" 

Mark replied, "I think everybody, or most people, could be very cruel when it comes to protecting themselves. I don't think that's a shocking answer."

The Justice Department on Tuesday, December 23, released a new tranche of documents revealing unseen materials related to Jeffrey Epstein. It included a report and photographs documenting an incident where the disgraced financier allegedly tried to kill himself just weeks before dying in federal custody.

A July 10, 2019, report from the Metropolitan Correctional Center describes Epstein being found in his cell in the "fetal position" early in the morning, wearing just a t-shirt and boxers, with an improvised orange-colored noose around his neck, the newly released files mentioned. 

The officer wrote, "As inmate Epstein was being placed on the stretcher by responding staff, he would open his eyes and observe staff. When staff made eye contact with him, he would hurriedly shut his eyes."

Following the incident, he was handcuffed and placed on a stretcher, after which he was dressed in a safety smock and placed under close observation.

As per the report, Epstein told staff that his cellmate, Nicholas Tartaglione, had harassed him and tried to kill him, though Epstein later appeared uncertain about what had happened.

Mark Epstein alleges DOJ is 'scrubbing' Republican names from files

Mark Epstein alleged that the Department of Justice is removing the names of Republicans from the Epstein files at a facility in Winchester, Virginia.

On December 19, the Justice Department released only a fraction of its files on Jeffrey Epstein, with redactions that were widely criticized and, by some, described as unlawful.

President Donald Trump initially opposed efforts to compel the Department of Justice to release the files and dismissed inquiries surrounding the disgraced financier as a “hoax” created by Democrats. He later reversed his position after it became clear that enough Republicans were not aligned with his objections.

Talking to Newsnation on Monday, December 21, Mark Epstein said, "I've been recently told [that] the reason they’re gonna be releasing these things, and the reason for the flip is that they’re sanitizing these files."

"There’s a facility in Winchester, Virginia, where they’re scrubbing the files to take Republican names out. That’s what I was told by a pretty good source," he added. Mark, however, provided no additional evidence to support his claims.