Epstein cellmate says Trump wanted his longtime friend dead

Convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein was left alone and unprotected in his cell "on purpose" in hopes that he wouldn't survive until his trial date, according to his former cellmate.

The Daily Beast reported Friday that Nicholas Tartaglione — a former police officer-turned quadruple murderer — claimed in a pardon/commutation document filed last year that Epstein was intentionally put in harm's way. In the 21-page document the Beast obtained, Tartaglione insisted Trump wanted his former friend "dead."

Part of that alleged plan may have included selecting Tartaglione to be Epstein's cellmate at New York City's Metropolitan Corrections Center (MCC). The Beast reported that Tartaglione has "a self-confessed hatred of child sex offenders." In a September 2019 letter to the New York Daily News, Tartaglione argued it was suspicious for MCC to put him in the same cell as Epstein.

"The staff here at MCC had hundreds of inmates to choose from yet I was their first choice," he wrote. "... It is no coincidence that prior to trial I was transferred to the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan and deliberately placed in the same cell as Jeffrey Epstein."

Tartaglione's recently unearthed petition comes on the heels of Miami Herald reporter Julie K. Brown — who initially broke the news that led to Epstein's first indictment — finding that Tartaglione had once extorted Epstein and threatened his life. According to Brown, Epstein was found on the floor of his cell "with a piece of fabric around his neck," and the convicted sex trafficker initially claimed that Tartaglione attempted to kill him. But Tartaglione wrote in his 2019 letter that both he and Epstein were targeted for assassination, and claimed that several attempts were made on his own life while at MCC.

"I clearly was not protected on purpose, nor was Epstein," he wrote. "I truly believe that the government wanted both Epstein and me dead."

Epstein later changed his story to say that he couldn't remember the details of the attack. Eventually, the incident was described as an act of "self-mutilation." Brown reported that details of the attack were later "expunged." Epstein's brother, Mark, continues to insist that his brother didn't take his own life, and that his death was the result of foul play.