A key senator demanded Tuesday that Attorney General William P. Barr publicly repudiate the non-prosecution deal the Justice Department struck a decade ago with Jeffrey Epstein, fully freeing prosecutors to go after his co-conspirators.
Sen. Ben Sasse said Mr. Epstein’s death this weekend should not be the end to the investigation into the sex network he ran involving teenage girls.
“Too many of Epstein’s secrets have gone to the grave with him, and the department must not allow his death to be one last sweetheart deal for his co-conspirators,” Mr. Sasse, Nebraska Republican, wrote in a letter to Mr. Barr.
Mr. Epstein was found hanged in his jail cell in Manhattan on Saturday, with authorities saying it appeared to be a suicide.
He had been charged with recruiting and running a network of teenage girls he paid to perform sex acts on him.
When he first faced such allegations, federal prosecutors had prepared a 53-page indictment, but instead reached a deal with Mr. Epstein offering him immunity from prosecution if he agreed to plead guilty to charges in Florida, Mr. Sasse said. That deal also covered four named co-conspirators and “any potential co-conspirators.”
The federal prosecutors in New York who brought the new charges this year have said they aren’t bound by the Florida deal, but Mr. Sasse said Mr. Barr should make clear that’s department policy.
Mr. Barr on Monday said Mr. Epstein’s death has not ended the federal investigation.
“Let me assure you that this case will continue on against anyone who was complicit with Epstein,” he said. “Any co-conspirators should not rest easy. The victims deserve justice, and we will ensure they get it.”
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.
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