House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer has formally requested a transcribed interview with Tova Noel, one of the Metropolitan Correctional Center guards on duty when late sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein died in federal custody in August 2019.
In a public letter, Comer asked Noel to appear in person in Washington, saying the committee believes she has information that could aid its investigation. The committee said its broader review goes well beyond the final hours of Epstein's life.
According to Comer's letter, lawmakers are examining the federal government's handling of the Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell investigations, the circumstances surrounding Epstein's death and the later probes into it, the operation of sex-trafficking rings and ways to combat them, alleged efforts by Epstein and Maxwell to cultivate influence, and possible ethics violations by elected officials.
The committee also noted that its inquiry has already included interviews with former Attorney General Bill Barr, former Labor Secretary Alex Acosta, Ghislaine Maxwell, Les Wexner, former President Bill Clinton, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and Richard Kahn.
Noel's name has long been tied to the failures inside the Manhattan jail the night Epstein died. Federal prosecutors charged Noel and fellow guard Michael Thomas in 2019, alleging they failed to check on Epstein as required and then falsified records to make it appear they had performed the mandatory rounds. Reuters reported at the time that prosecutors said the guards had not monitored Epstein every 30 minutes as required at the Special Housing Unit and instead filed false paperwork covering the gap.
That criminal case, however, did not end with a trial. In 2021, Noel and Thomas entered deferred prosecution agreements that allowed them to avoid prison after admitting they had falsified records, and by early 2022, the case was formally dismissed after prosecutors said the two had complied with the terms of the deal. The agreements required community service and cooperation conditions.
Epstein, who was awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges, was found dead in his cell on Aug. 10, 2019. New York City's medical examiner ruled that he died by suicide by hanging. But the case never stopped fueling public skepticism, in part because of glaring lapses at the jail and Epstein's extraordinary profile.
Those institutional failures were underscored again in 2023, when the Justice Department's inspector general concluded that a "combination of negligence, misconduct, and outright job performance failures" by Bureau of Prisons staff created the conditions that allowed Epstein to take his own life. The watchdog report said staff failed to ensure proper supervision, did not follow procedures, and contributed to an environment in which one of the country's most notorious inmates was left with the opportunity to die by suicide.
