Tova Noel is believed to be the last person who saw Epstein before his death.
A former prison guard who was on duty at the federal Metropolitan Corrections Center in New York when convictedJeffrey Epsteindied in 2019 testified Monday that the late sex offender received "special treatment" at the jail, two members of the House Oversight Committee said.
Democratic Reps. Suhas Subramanyamof Virginia and Melanie Stansbury of New Mexico said Tova Noel testified that Epstein received extra bed linens and a CPAP machine, and had access to "medications in a way no one else did."
"I do think [Epstein] was treated differently from the other inmates," Rep. Subramanyamsaid when asked about Noel's testimony. "Jeffrey Epstein got special treatment in that facility."
Subramanyamsaid he "fully" believes Epstein died from suicide, but emphasized there are still "open questions" about how he was able to do so.
"Why was he given special treatment, like extra linens that he used to hang himself ... when he had just tried to commit suicide a month earlier? Those are the questions we need to answer," Subramanyamsaid.
The interview of Noel -- believed to be the last person to have seen Epstein before his death -- comes amid renewed scrutiny of Epstein's death.
Epsteindied by suicideaccording to an autopsy conducted by the New York medical examiner, though a series of missteps by prison officials have long fueled conspiracy theories about his death.
Noel also addressed the series of cash deposits she received between April 2018 and July 2019 totaling $12,000, with one last deposit made prior to Epstein's death.
"She said the financial transfers have nothing to do with Epstein," Stansbury said. "I think the only maybe new piece of information is that she does feel like her termination was unfair, and that had it not been Jeffrey Epstein, she would not have been fired."
Grand jury transcripts releasedfrom the case against Noel released by the DOJ earlier this yearshowed that the FBI examined her bank records and found no evidence of a bribe.
Neither Noel nor her lawyer commented on Monday's interview with the Oversight panel.
Subramanyam said he believed that Noel did commit wrongdoing by failing to carry out her job.
"She didn't check on Jeffrey Epstein like she should have, and that seemed to be a systemic issue at the facility," he said.
Noel is alleged to have spent the hours ahead of Epstein's death scrolling the internet, rather than performing the required headcounts of the prisoners in the unit where the disgraced sex offender was housed.
