Former U.S. Attorney General Bill Barr is testifying on Capitol Hill Monday about the investigation into Jeffrey Epstein's death. Barr was head of the Justice Department when Epstein died in federal custody in 2019.

Washington

Former Attorney General Bill Barr has faced questions from lawmakers about the investigation into Jeffrey Epstein's death. Barr, who was attorney general at the time, personally reviewed nearly 11 hours of jail surveillance footage and was actively involved in the inquiry, which is considered unusual for someone in his position.

Lawmakers sought clarity on several issues, including whether all possibilities surrounding Epstein's death were investigated, the handling of surveillance footage, and Barr's personal and professional connections to Epstein. The testimony comes amid ongoing public interest and unresolved questions about the circumstances of Epstein's death.

Former AG Bill Barr testifies about Epstein death investigation

All right. Right now, former Attorney General Bill Barr is facing questions from lawmakers about the investigation into Jeffrey Epstein's death. Lawmakers subpoenaed Barr for his testimony today. Remember, Barr was the attorney general at the time of Epstein's death. He also personally reviewed the almost 11 hours of jail footage from that night. CBS News legal reporter Katrina Kaufman is here and joins me now. Katrina, good to see you. What information do lawmakers hope to hear today? Well, Vlad, it was very unusual for an attorney general, Bill Barr, to personally oversee this investigation of Jeffrey Epstein, to personally be reviewing that surveillance footage. Also, his staff was on site shortly after Epstein's death. That was very unusual as well with an inmate death. We have some sound of what he said at the time. Let's take a listen. Okay. This sex trafficking case was very important to the Department of Justice and to me personally. I was appalled, and indeed the whole department was, and frankly, angry to learn of the MCC's failure to adequately secure this prisoner. This is why Barr will have more information than your typical attorney general about Epstein's death. At the time, he said that he had reviewed the footage, that he concluded no one came or went from Epstein's cell. But what's interesting, Vlad, is our reporter, Dan Rutnick, reviewed that footage, and he said that it looks as though at least one person went down to that cell. You can see this sort of orange blur on the footage. That's the color of the inmate's clothes. It's also the color of the linen, so maybe someone carrying those, but it was 10.40 p.m. at night. So, you know, this is a question for Bill Barr. Does he still think that no one came or went from that cell? We've also reviewed the surveillance footage. And Dan Rutnick, as well, was told by a government source that there's this missing minute. But the government source said that the government has footage where that minute is still there. Attorney General Pam Bondi has said that it was a refresh, that it's just typical for that minute to be missing, but there are so many questions swirling here that they're hoping to get answers from. Yeah, a lot of questions. The public has maintained very sort of animated feelings about this. What do you think that the public wants to know? I mean, I think another big question that the public wants to know is, was anything ever investigated in terms of Jeffrey Epstein's death other than suicide? Once that determination was made, did they look into other possibilities? What were the parameters of the investigation? What does Bill Barr know about this? Back at the time of the criminal investigation against Epstein, there were also calls for Barr to recuse himself, because he had ties to Epstein. He had worked at a law firm that represented Epstein. Epstein had also, in the 1970s, worked at this fancy private school, Vlad, where Bill Barr's father was the headmaster. So there's just all of these connections here and so many questions that remain, and he's the first person that they're going to be talking to. I hadn't heard that detail. Katrina Kaufman with some really fascinating nuggets there about this meeting that Barr is having with lawmakers on the Hill this morning. Thank you very much. Really good.

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