The Washington Post - 13.08.2019

A14 EZ RE THE WASHINGTON POST.TUESDAY, AUGUST 13 , 2019

treasures. “P.S. Hello U.S.

government, this is a joke, and I

do not actually intend to go ahead

with this plan,” Jackson Barnes

wrote in an addendum. “I’m not

responsible if people decide to

actually storm area 51.”

Twitter has certainly made it

easier, and faster, to disseminate

baseless conspiracy theories. Lots

of people with blue check marks

— meaning people whose

identities have been verified by

Twitter — were crawling out on

unsupported limbs after news

broke of Epstein’s death.

But the conspiracy theories

swirling around Dillinger, Area

51, Apollo 11 and Lyme disease all

predate social media. There’s a

long history of skepticism toward

shadowy groups, from the

Illuminati and the Freemasons to

the Trilateral Commission, the

Bilderberg Group, and Yale’s Skull

and Bones.

In his classic 1964 essay, “The

Paranoid Style in American

Politics,” historian Richard

Hofstadter described the

paranoid style as “made up of

certain preoccupations and

fantasies,” such as “the

megalomaniac view of oneself as

... wholly good, abominably
persecuted, yet assured of
ultimate triumph” and “the
attribution of gigantic and
demonic powers to the
adversary.” His main insight was
that it’s not just kooks who fall
under the sway of kooky ideas. “In
fact, the idea of the paranoid style
as a force in politics would have
little contemporary relevance or
historical value if it were applied
only to men with profoundly
disturbed minds,” Hofstadter
wrote. “It is the use of paranoid
modes of expression by more or
less normal people that makes the
phenomenon significant.”
Trump has flirted with many a
conspiracy theory over recent
years. As a candidate in 2016, he
claimed Ted Cruz’s father, Rafael,
was with Lee Harvey Oswald
before the Kennedy assassination
and hinted that he might have
been involved. There’s no
evidence of this at all.
He entertained the baseless
conspiracy theory that the late
Supreme Court Justice Antonin
Scalia, who died in his sleep, may
have been killed.
That spring, Trump called the
circumstances surrounding
former Clinton White House aide
Vince Foster’s suicide “very fishy”
and called theories of possible
foul play “very serious.” There
were five official investigations
into Foster’s death. None found
evidence of foul play.
Trump has also repeatedly
claimed, with no evidence, that he
lost the popular vote in 2016 only
because millions of
undocumented immigrants voted
illegally for Hillary Clinton. He
has claimed falsely that Muslims
celebrated the 9/11 attacks in the
streets of New Jersey. And he has
insisted that the Obama
administration spied on him. All
these claims have been debunked
thoroughly by fact-checkers.
Trump made at least 12,
false or misleading claims during
his first 928 days as president.
“Trump’s proclivity for spouting
exaggerated numbers,
unwarranted boasts and outright
falsehoods has continued at a
remarkable pace,” Glenn Kessler,
Salvador Rizzo and Meg Kelly
wrote.
“President Trump could use his
megaphone for anything. But the
president often uses it to amplify
that which is the worst of us:
personal attacks, bigotry and
insane conspiracy theories,”
CNN’s Jake Tapper said on his
Sunday show. “This is no longer
just irresponsibility and indecent.
It’s dangerous.”
james.hohmann@washpost.com

House even voted two weeks ago

to include an amendment in the

defense reauthorization bill

requiring the Pentagon to reveal

whether the military ever

weaponized ticks. “As someone

who has worked for more than

three decades to understand the

epidemiology and ecology of

Lyme disease to reduce the risk of

Americans getting infected, I am

appalled that this conspiracy

theory is taken so seriously that

Congress is now involved,” wrote

Sam Telford, a professor of

infection diseases and global

health at Tufts University. “The

idea... is easily disproved.”

More than 2 million people on

Facebook have signed up and an

additional 1.5 million have said

they are interested in joining a

raid on Area 51 in Nevada during

the wee hours of Sept. 20. “Lets

see them aliens,” the event page

says. The page is clearly a satire,

but the guy who set it up has

grown increasingly worried that

some people may not understand

that it’s a parody and actually try

to enter the clandestine facility in

search of extraterrestrial

was an “inside job” or that the

Holocaust never actually

happened. Chemtrails, black

helicopters and Pizzagate have all

entered the lexicon.

The Indiana State Department

of Health recently approved a

permit for John Dillinger’s body

to be exhumed Sept. 16 so that

DNA testing can be performed on

his corpse. The event, which will

be recorded for a History Channel

special, comes 85 years after the

notorious bank robber was

gunned down by FBI agents

outside a movie theater in

Chicago. The madam of a brothel

tipped off the bureau to avoid

being deported. Ever since that

night in July 1934, a conspiracy

theory has lingered that the

government killed a body double.

Historians who have studied the

case, and the FBI, say this is

nonsense. Nevertheless, the

rumor has persisted.

Another old conspiracy theory

has been enjoying a recent

resurgence: that Lyme disease is

the result of an accidental release

from a secret government U.S.

bioweapons experiment. The

President Trump
is as much the
product of
America’s
conspiracy-
curious political
culture as the
cause of it.
Trump retweeted to his
63 million followers on Saturday
a baseless conspiracy theory
about the death of Jeffrey
Epstein, the politically connected
financier who was facing multiple
charges of sex trafficking
involving underage girls. After
authorities said he died by
apparent suicide, Trump shared a
message from conservative actor
Terrence Williams, who
suggested that Epstein’s death
might be tied to former president
Bill Clinton. Clinton spokesman
Angel Ureña called the current
president’s tweet “ridiculous, and
of course not true — and Donald
Trump knows it.” Attorney
General William P. Barr said
Monday there was a “failure” by
federal officials to secure Epstein
in his cell.
On one hand, it’s stunning that
the president of the United States
retweeted a groundless
suggestion that a former
president was involved in a
suspicious death. On the other
hand, Trump has routinely
peddled false conspiracy theories
of the out-there variety. He spent
years pushing the lie that his
predecessor, Barack Obama, was
not born in the United States. Two
weeks ago, Trump promoted two
Twitter accounts that have shown
support for the online conspiracy
theory known as QAnon.
But zany conspiracy theories
have a long history of gaining
currency and finding followers in
the United States. In fact, there
are almost daily illustrations of
this strain of American
culture. On the 50th anniversary
of the lunar landing last month,
for example, there was a fresh
round of discussion about the
conspiracy theory that NASA
faked Neil Armstrong’s
moonwalk. (It didn’t.) There are
“truthers” who claim that 9/

gators. Union officials said while

video cameras are prevalent in

the Metropolitan Correctional

Center, they generally do not

show inmates’ cells — meaning

footage of precisely what hap-

pened to Epstein may not exist.

New York City Chief Medical

Examiner Barbara Sampson said

that Epstein’s autopsy was com-

plete but that she had not

reached a determination on the

cause of death, “pending further

information.” The medical exam-

iner allowed Michael Baden, a

private pathologist, to observe

the autopsy at the request of

Epstein’s representatives, Samp-

son said. Her office made no

further public statements Mon-

day.

Epstein was arrested July 6

after his private plane landed at

New Jersey’s Teterboro Airport

from Paris. He was charged with

sexually abusing dozens of young

girls in the early 2000s. From that

point on, he never left federal

custody. He tried — unsuccessful-

ly — to be released to home

confinement while he awaited a

trial, but a judge rejected his

request to do so. He was appeal-

ing that decision.

On July 23, Epstein was found

in his cell with marks on his neck,

and jail officials treated the epi-

sode as a possible suicide at-

tempt, though they also explored

whether Epstein had been at-

tacked. At the time, Epstein had a

cellmate: Nicholas Tartaglione, a

former police officer in custody

on murder and narcotics charges.

Immediately after that inci-

dent, officials at the detention

center put Epstein on suicide

watch, subjecting him to con-

stant monitoring and daily psy-

chological evaluations, people fa-

miliar with the matter said. After

about a week, he was removed.

He was returned to the special

housing unit and assigned a dif-

ferent cellmate before that per-

son was moved out Friday, people

familiar with the matter said. The

people declined to identify that

cellmate.

By some accounts, Epstein

seemed all right. He showed no

apparent signs of distress at a

July 31 court hearing, and in the

week of his death, he was meeting

with his attorneys for many hours

and seemed in good spirits, peo-

ple familiar with the matter said.

Union officials said that under-

staffing is a persistent issue at the

Metropolitan Correctional Cen-

ter and that it was possible over-

work and exhaustion played a

role in the incident. The two

correctional officers assigned to

the special detention unit where

Epstein was held were working

overtime — one forced to do so by

management, the other for his

fourth or fifth consecutive day,

said the president of the local

union for staffers.

Serene Gregg, president of

American Federation of Govern-

ment Employees Local 3148, said

the Metropolitan Correctional

Center is functioning with fewer

than 70 percent of the needed

correctional officers, forcing

many to work mandatory over-

time and 60- or 70-hour work-

weeks.

She said one of the people

assigned to watch Epstein’s unit

did not normally work as a cor-

rectional officer but, like others

in roles such as counselors and

teachers, was able to do so. She

declined to say which one or

specify the person’s regular role.

“If it wasn’t Mr. Epstein, it

would have been somebody else,

because of the conditions at that

institution,” Gregg said. “It

wasn’t a matter of how it hap-

pened or it happening, but it was

only a matter of time for it to

happen. It was inevitable. Our

staff is severely overworked.”

The facility has long held high-

profile inmates.

Weeks after Epstein’s arrest,

one of MCC’s most famous pris-

oners, convicted drug kingpin

Joaquín Guzmán, better known

as “El Chapo,” was transferred

out of the jail, after declaring his

time there was “psychological,

emotional, mental torture, 24

hours a day.”

The high-rise jail has also held

al-Qaeda members, mob boss

John Gotti and Ponzi-scheme

mastermind Bernard Madoff.

Epstein was held in a section of

the jail called Nine South, along

with other inmates who officials

decide require extra monitoring.

The strictest conditions in the

MCC are found in a different

section, 10 South, where the most

dangerous prisoners are held.

matt.zapotosky@washpost.com

devlin.barrett@washpost.com

rachel.weiner@washpost.com

Epstein can no longer be pros-

ecuted. Epstein was in jail await-

ing a trial on new federal sex

trafficking charges.

On Monday, ABC News showed

footage of FBI and Customs and

Border Protection personnel on

the dock of a private island that

Epstein owned.

“Let me assure you that this

case will continue on against

anyone who was complicit with

Epstein,” Barr said. “Any co-con-

spirators should not rest easy.

The victims deserve justice, and

they will get it.”

Speaking to law enforcement

officials in New Orleans, the

country’s top law enforcement

official said he “was appalled...

and, frankly, angry” to learn of

the Metropolitan Correctional

Center’s “failure to adequately

secure” Epstein.

“We are now learning of seri-

ous irregularities at this facility

that are deeply concerning and

demand a thorough investiga-

tion,” he said.

Barr did not specify what irreg-

ularities had been found in the

aftermath of Epstein’s death but

vowed to “get to the bottom of

what happened,” adding, “There

will be accountability.”

Lawmakers also demanded an-

swers from federal officials. The

Democratic and Republican lead-

ers of the House Judiciary Com-

mittee on Monday addressed a

letter to acting Bureau of Prisons

director Hugh Hurwitz demand-

ing answers to questions about

Epstein’s time in federal deten-

tion and asserting that Epstein’s

death “demonstrates severe mis-

carriages of or deficiencies in

inmate protocol and has allowed

the deceased to ultimately evade

facing justice.”

The Bureau of Prisons declined

to comment Monday.

Those who say Epstein victim-

ized them have long asserted that

the politically connected multi-

millionaire was able to evade

justice, and many were disap-

pointed that he will now never

answer for his crimes at a trial. It

is possible that prosecutors — or

those who claim to have been

abused by Epstein — could sue

for his considerable assets. But

they will be pursuing his estate

for financial compensation rath-

er than the man himself for

criminal wrongdoing.

Epstein was being held in a

special housing unit of the Metro-

politan Correctional Center and

should have been checked on by

the staff every 30 minutes. But

corrections officers had not

checked on Epstein for “several”

hours before he was found

around 6:30 a.m., when the staff

were handing out breakfast to

inmates, a person familiar with

the matter said.

This person, like others inter-

viewed for this report, spoke on

the condition of anonymity to

discuss the ongoing investiga-

tion.

Epstein, who had recently

come off suicide watch, also

should have had a cellmate, the

person said. But a man who had

been assigned to share a cell with

Epstein was transferred Friday

and — for reasons that investiga-

tors are exploring — Epstein did

not get a new cellmate, a person

familiar with the matter said

Sunday night.

That left Epstein alone and

unmonitored — at least in the

hours before his death — by even

those officers assigned to guard

him.

Joel Sickler, a prison consul-

tant hired by Epstein, said before

Epstein’s death that his legal

team had discussed trying to get

him transferred to another jail.

Prison consultants advise clients

— often white-collar defendants

— on how to navigate the bureau-

cracy and dangers of the prison

system.

“He needed to be in a safer

location, so we were taking mea-

sures to try to get him transferred

out of the MCC,” Sickler said. But

Sickler said that effort had

reached only the discussion stage

among the lawyers and that no

request had been made to the

Bureau of Prisons at the time of

Epstein’s death.

“When you’re a high-profile

defendant who’s identified as not

only wealthy but a sex offender,

you’re... basically a target in

prison,” said Sickler, who added

that Epstein had asked to be

taken off suicide watch last

month.

What happened between the

transfer of Epstein’s cellmate and

the moment he was discovered

dead is now a key focus of investi-

EPSTEIN FROM A

PowerPost

INTELLIGENCE FOR LEADERS 
 WASHINGTONPOST.COM/POWERPOST

Barr: ‘Irregularities’

at N.Y. federal prison

Epstein conspiracy theories a product of our culture

The Daily
202

JAMES
HOHMANN

CAROL M. HIGHSMITH/LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

John Dillinger’s body will be exhumed Sept. 16 in an effort to lay to rest a conspiracy theory.

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