The Washington Post - 28.08.2019

A6 EZ SU THE WASHINGTON POST.WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 28 , 2019

July 23 incident in which he was

found in his cell with marks on his

neck. After he was removed from

suicide watch about a week later,

he should have had a cell mate.

But that person was transferred

out the day before Epstein was

found, and no one was assigned to

replace him — despite the fact

that at least eight jail officials

knew Epstein was not to be left

alone in cell.

Officers also should have been

checking on Epstein every

30 minutes but had not done so

for several hours before he was

found, officials have said. The two

officers assigned to the special

housing unit where Epstein was

being held were both on overtime

— one forced, the other voluntary,

officials have said. One did not

normally work as a correctional

officer but had in the past and was

able to do so, officials have said.

Epstein’s case attracted so

much attention in part because in

2008, he reached a deal with fed-

eral prosecutors to resolve similar

allegations of abuse and spent

13 months in jail — with work-

release privileges. The arrange-

ment was widely criticized as

overly lenient and ultimately

prompted the resignation of Pres-

ident Trump’s labor secretary,

Alex Acosta, who was the U.S.

attorney in Miami when the deal

was approved.

Federal prosecutors in New

York have said that they are still

investigating those who might

have conspired with Epstein and

that it is possible other charges

could be brought. Assistant U.S.

Attorney Maurene Comey told the

court Tuesday that charges

against potential co-conspirators

and civil forfeiture of Epstein’s

assets are still possible, and that

the government’s investigation

will continue.

“This dismissal in no way less-

ens the government’s resolve,”

Comey said.

[email protected]

[email protected]

Zapotosky reported from

Washington.

had pleaded not guilty. Berman

had ordered that he be jailed

pending trial, although Epstein

was appealing that decision.

On the morning of Aug. 10, staff

at the Metropolitan Correctional

Center in Manhattan found Ep-

stein hanging in his cell. He was

taken to a hospital, where he was

pronounced dead.

Authorities called the incident

an “apparent suicide” and

launched multiple investigations

— including by the FBI and the

Justice Department’s inspector

general — into what had hap-

pened.

Reid H. Weingarten, one of Ep-

stein’s attorneys, asked Berman

on Tuesday to conduct an inde-

pendent inquiry into Epstein’s

death.

Defense attorneys said that

they were skeptical of the New

York City medical examiner’s con-

clusion that Epstein died by sui-

cide and that their own medical

examiner believed there was

some evidence to suggest other-

wise. They said that their medical

examiner believed Epstein was

dead for 45 minutes before he was

found — raising questions about

efforts to resuscitate him — and

that his injuries could suggest

homicide.

They also pointed to apparent-

ly faulty video footage of the hall-

way outside of Epstein’s cell that

they had been told was being

evaluated by the FBI. One of Ep-

stein’s defense attorneys claimed

that the medical examiner had

informed a family representative

that “the principal video that

would have showed the whole

hall was corrupted,” but that offi-

cials were able to view “video

which was on a stairwell between

floors” at the jail.

The Washington Post reported

Monday that least one camera in

the hallway outside the cell where

Epstein was found had footage

that was unusable, although oth-

er clearer footage was captured in

the area.

That was not the only irregu-

larity at the jail. Epstein had been

put on suicide watch after a

and listened to,” she said.

Berman, the judge, could have

issued a simple written order dis-

missing the case to avoid the

hearing entirely, but instead he

asked prosecutors and defense

lawyers to appear in court Tues-

day so that they and those who say

Epstein abused them could “be

heard, if they wish to be.”

Berman said the news of Ep-

stein’s death was “certainly shock-

ing,” as everyone was expecting

proceedings “through which the

accusers and the accused would

come face to face, allowing every-

one to get their day in court.”

“It is a rather stunning turn of

events,” Berman said.

Prosecutors had arrested Ep-

stein, 66, in July and charged him

with sex trafficking, subjecting

him to a possible trial and 45-year

sentence if he were convicted. He

other alleged victim: “Please,

please finish what you have start-

ed.”

An attorney for Maxwell did

not immediately respond to a re-

quest for comment.

In total, 16 women spoke in

court, 10 whom identified them-

selves by name, others who were

referred to only as “Jane Doe.”

Others had their attorneys read

statements.

Marijke Chartouni, who al-

leged Epstein assaulted her at his

Manhattan home, said she “decid-

ed to come forward to be a voice to

the victims who may not be able

to tell their story, or at least not

yet.”

Theresa J. Helm said it was

“time to bring light to that dark-

ness, and it’s time to replace that

darkness with light.”

“I note today I do feel respected

Epstein sexually abused her when

she was 14 years old and was the

first to speak Tuesday, said Ep-

stein had “robbed myself and all

the other victims of our day in

court to confront him one by one.”

“And for that,” she said, “he is a

coward.”

More than one woman im-

plored prosecutors to continue

pursuing those who aided Ep-

stein, identifying by name, for

example, associate Ghislaine

Maxwell. She has not been

charged and has denied wrongdo-

ing, but has been accused of serv-

ing as a sort of madam for Ep-

stein.

“The reckoning must not end.

It must continue,” said Virginia

Roberts Giuffre, who sued Max-

well in 2015. “He did not act alone.

We the victims know that.”

Added Sarah Ransome, an-

“He could not begin to fathom
what he took from us, and I say
‘us’ because I am every girl he did
this to, and they’re all me,” said
actress Anouska De Georgiou,
who alleged Epstein coerced and
sexually abused her as a girl. “I’m
glad to be part of a group of
women who are now bonded for-
ever in the trauma that we en-
dured at the hands of this man.”
The women’s stories were chill-
ingly similar. Epstein, they said,
manipulated them and the sys-
tem that was supposed to hold
him accountable, and the effects
of his abuse would remain after
his death.
“The fact I will never have a
chance to face my predator in
court eats away at my soul,” said
Jennifer Araoz, fighting through
tears. “Even in death, Epstein is
trying to hurt me.”
Chauntae Davies, who told the
court she was recruited to be a
masseuse for Epstein, graphically
described being raped by the fi-
nancier over several years and
how she has felt enduring effects
throughout her life.
“I’ve suffered, and he has won,”
Davies said. “Every job offer that’s
been offered to me and then re-
tracted because of my connection
to this case — I have suffered, and
he has won. Every public humilia-
tion I have endured — I have
suffered, and he has won.”
While Davies said Epstein’s
death had robbed her of justice,
she would not let the pain silence
her.
“I refuse to let this man win in
death,” she said. “I couldn’t fight
back when Jeffrey Epstein sexu-
ally abused me because I hadn’t
yet found my voice. Well, I have
found my voice now, and while
Jeffrey may no longer be here to
hear it, I will not stop fighting,
and I will not be silenced any-
more.”
Courtney Wild, who alleged

EPSTEIN FROM A

BY DAVID A. FAHRENTHOLD,

ANNE GEARAN

AND CAROL MORELLO

On Monday in France, Presi-
dent Trump announced he was
likely to hold next year’s Group of
Seven summit — an event involv-
ing seven world leaders, hundreds
of diplomats, and a huge police
presence — at his own golf resort
in Doral, Fla.
Back in Doral, Police Chief Her-
nan Organvidez was caught by
surprise.
If the summit came to the city,
Organvidez would be a crucial
part of preparations — trying to
turn a sprawling golf course sur-
rounded by houses, busy streets
and a nearby airport into a walled-
off diplomatic island. But nobody
has told him he needs to make
such plans.
Organvidez said that after hear-
ing Trump’s remarks, he called the
head of the local Secret Service
office.
“He said, ‘Miami’s being consid-
ered, but we don’t know exactly
what’s going to happen,’ ” Organvi-
dez said. The police chief asked:
Who would pay for the prepara-
tions? When would it happen? No
answers.
“I have rumors,” Organvidez
said, but nothing else. Without
more information, he asked, “how
am I going to deal with such a big
event?”
Trump’s promotion of Doral as
the best site for the international
summit has renewed criticism
that he is using his office to gener-
ate revenue for his private busi-
ness — and in this case, in possible
violation of a constitutional ban
on presidents accepting foreign
payments.
The president’s abrupt an-
nouncement also raised questions
about how Doral would handle
the logistical challenges of such an
enormous undertaking — and
what preparations, if any, are un-
derway.
Officials in South Florida said
they’d been given no orders to
plan — even in a preliminary way
— for hosting the summit.

“We have nothing. We have no

official communication with any-

body,” said Patty Hurtado de Men-

doza, a spokeswoman for Miami-

Dade County Mayor Carlos A.

Giménez.

The Trump Organization did

not respond to questions.

In recent years, U.S. officials

chose isolated sites for the confab:

Camp David, the presidential re-

treat in Maryland; and Sea Island,

off the coast of Georgia.

If Trump taps Doral, officials

would have to create the same

secure cordon on a far more com-

plicated site: a patchwork of office

parks near the Miami airport,

with busy roads on all sides.

“Nuts,” said Robert Goodwin, a

George W. Bush appointee who

ran the 2004 Group of Eight sum-

mit at Sea Island, said of the idea

of a Doral summit.

“It’s possible, sure. Anything’s

possible. But it doesn’t make too

much sense” to do it at Doral,

Goodwin said.

At the Sea Island summit, he

said, organizers sealed off the is-

land, transported world leaders in

by helicopter and used Navy ships

and advanced radar planes to pa-

trol the seas nearby. A no-fly zone

shut down the airspace above.

That was easier, Goodwin said,

because they had an island.

Considering Doral for the sum-

mit’s location “is just crazy,” he

said. He said the busy Miami air-

port might be affected and that

organizers would have to scour

nearby neighborhoods for people

seeking to launch a rocket or other

airborne attack. “It would be a

nightmare to secure,” he said.

The location of the G-7 summit,

for which hosting duties rotate

among the member countries, is

at the president’s discretion when

it is held in the United States.

White House spokeswoman

Stephanie Grisham said Tuesday

that Doral is among several poten-

tial sites being considered and

that a date for the event has not

been selected.

But Trump himself continued

to promote the resort, taking to

Twitter to blame “Radical Left

Democrats” for spreading a “false

and nasty rumor” about a bedbug

infestation at Doral. (In 2017, the

Trump Organization settled a law-

suit by a Doral guest who said he

had been bitten multiple times by

bedbugs while staying in the luxe

Jack Nicklaus Villa at Trump’s

property.)

“No bedbugs at Doral,” the pres-

ident tweeted.

On Tuesday, the State Depart-

ment said that the White House

had sent teams to multiple sites to

see if they would be suitable to

host the summit.

The teams looked at “major air-

ports, security arrangements, ac-

commodation availability and

major world events happening

that same year,” a State Depart-

ment official said in a statement.

Grisham said the potential sites

are in California, Colorado, Flori-

da, Hawaii, Michigan, North Caro-

lina, Tennessee and Utah, along

with the District.

She said the administration is

using much the same criteria as

past administrations did in choos-

ing a location, including the type

and size of accommodations and

meeting rooms, other hotel space

within a 100-mile radius, proximi-

ty of airports and medical facili-

ties, and things for spouses to see

and do.

Trump said that search had led

them to favor his own 643-room

golf resort, which has struggled

with declining revenue and profit

in recent years. “It’s, like, such a

natural,” the president said Mon-

day.

Former U.S. officials involved in

planning summits said that

Trump’s club did have some things

going for it. It has eight villas —

essentially, separate wings of hotel

rooms — that could allow each

country delegation to have its own

space. There would be no body-

guards jostling for the same eleva-

tors.

“That’s not a bad physical plant.

Because, obviously, there’s a cen-

tral building where you could have

the meetings. And then each na-

tion could get one” villa, said Pat

Kennedy, a longtime State Depart-

ment employee who helped plan

multiple summits and retired in

2017.

Kennedy said that the State De-

partment funds many of the ex-

penditures of a summit, including

rooms for U.S. personnel and for-

eign leaders. He said foreign coun-

tries pay for rooms for their staff.

Trump is facing a lawsuit filed

by congressional Democrats for

allegedly violating the Constitu-

tion’s ban on emoluments, or pay-

ments from foreign states.

Trump has said he does not

think he would profit if the event

is held at Doral.

“I don’t want to make money,”

he said Monday. His company has

said it donates all profits from

foreign-government business to

the U.S. Treasury but does not

detail how it calculates that profit.

In 2004, the company that owns

the Sea Island resort netted about

$2.5 million from its contract with

the State Department to host the

international summit that year,

according to Goodwin.

The company declined to com-

ment.

Kennedy, who worked on sum-

mits going back to the 1980s, said

it was hard to project what

Trump’s profit would be. The Unit-

ed States has never tried to house

all the top dignitaries at a single

hotel before, he noted.

Kennedy also noted that while

foreign leaders may demand bet-

ter suites than what the Doral club

offers now, the U.S. government

would not cover those costs. “We

don’t pay for cosmetic improve-

ments,” Kennedy said.

Former Secret Service person-

nel said that, for their purposes,

the downside of Doral is that it has

thousands of residents living

nearby. That might require dis-

ruptive screening of people going

to and from their homes.

But they said that the Secret

Service already protects a far larg-

er annual gathering of world lead-

ers in New York, during the annual

meeting of the U.N. General As-

sembly.

“At the end of the day, the Secret

Service will make anything work,”

said Jonathan Wackrow, a securi-

ty-risk consultant and former lead

agent on President Barack

Obama’s detail. “From a security

standpoint, I think the security

concerns are de minimis.... The

major impact is to the whole sur-

rounding area. Everything out-

side Doral becomes road closures.”

In South Florida, that possibili-

ty left officials worried — especial-

ly because they weren’t even sure

when the summit might be.

“If it happens somewhere else,

God bless ’em,” said Organvidez,

the Doral police chief. “If it hap-

pens here, God bless me.”

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

Mike DeBonis, Carol D. Leonnig,

Joshua Partlow and John Wagner

contributed to this report.

Trump’s promotion of his Doral club for G-7 catches area o∞cials by surprise

‘The reckoning must not end,’ Epstein hearing told

WILFREDO LEE/ASSOCIATED PRESS

President Trump announced Monday in France that he would probably hold next year’s Group of Seven

summit at his golf club, above, in Doral, Fla. Key officials said that they had not heard about the plan.

SHANNON STAPLETON/REUTERS

Teala Davies, an alleged victim of Jeffrey Epstein’s, speaks outside a federal courthouse in New York.

Sixteen women told a hearing Tuesday about their experiences with the now-deceased financier.

BY ALEX HORTON

A federal judge in Missouri
blocked a strict and controversial
abortion ban Tuesday, a day be-
fore the state was set to criminal-
ize abortions performed after
eight weeks, to allow pending
legal challenges to it to proceed.
“The various sections specify-
ing prohibitions on abortions at
various weeks prior to viability
cannot be allowed to go into

effect on August 28, as sched-

uled,” U.S. District Judge Howard

Sachs wrote in an 11-page opin-

ion, CNN reported.

“However formulated, the leg-

islation on its face conflicts with

the Supreme Court ruling that

neither legislative or judicial lim-

its on abortion can be measured

by specified weeks or develop-

ment of a fetus; instead, ‘viabili-

ty’ is the sole test for a State’s

authority to prohibit abortions

where there is no maternal

health issue,” Sachs wrote.

Missouri has become a flash

point alongside other conserva-

tive states that seek to challenge

the Supreme Court’s 1973 Roe v.

Wade ruling that established a

woman’s right nationwide to an

abortion. Those states’ efforts

triggered a wave of lawsuits from

abortion rights advocacy groups.

Planned Parenthood and the

American Civil Liberties Union

of Missouri sued the state, saying

the law was unconstitutional and

contrary to the Roe v. Wade

decision.

The Missouri law signed in

May would ban abortions before

many women know they are

pregnant, with no exceptions for

rape or incest, making it one of

the strictest in the country.

If the court doesn’t uphold the

ban, the bill includes less-strict

bans ranging from 14 weeks to

20 weeks, the Associated Press

reported.

“We are in the fight of our lives

to protect abortion for 1.1 million

Missouri women of reproductive

age in our state,” Colleen McNich-

olas, the chief medical officer of

Planned Parenthood of the St.

Louis Region, said last month.

“The attacks are relentless, but

our commitment to our patients’

rights and freedoms is unwaver-

ing.”

While conservatives champi-

oned the ban, with Missouri

House Speaker Elijah Haahr (R)

saying the bill “stood for the

unborn,” opponents said it would

only drive women to get unsafe

procedures out of state or to seek

unsafe operations on their own.

“We will be killing women with

this bill,” Rep. Sarah Unsicker, a

Democrat from the St. Louis

suburbs, said before the vote.

Gov. Mike Parson (R) made a

forceful statement with the bill’s

passage, vowing to make Mis-

souri “one of the strongest pro-

life states in the country.”

[email protected]

Lindsey Bever contributed to this

report.

Judge blocks Missouri’s 8-week abortion ban