The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on Monday interviewed a jail guard who claimed to be the last person to see convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein alive, Politico reported.
Tova Noel was one of the two prison guards on duty at the Metropolitan Correctional Center (MCC) in New York City on Aug. 9, 2019, the night before Epstein was found dead in his cell. Just a handful of the committee’s dozens of members were present for the transcribed closed-door interview with Noel, according to Politico.
According to lawmakers, Noel received a total of $12,000 in cash deposits from April 2018 to July 2019, ABC News reported Monday. Noel made a $5,000 cash deposit just ten days before Epstein’s body was found, according to the New York Post.
Democratic New Mexico Rep. Melanie Stansbury, who was one of the few committee members to attend a portion of the interview, blamed the committee’s Republican majority, which she called “chaotic” and its “constant changing of the schedule” for the lackluster turnout of lawmakers, the outlet reported. The Democrat added that she thought Noel had testified honestly.
The House is not conducting a vote until Wednesday, according to the lower chamber’s schedule.
Committee Chairman James Comer, a Kentucky Republican, did not take part in the interview due to family matters, a committee spokesperson told Politico. A spokesperson for Comer told the Daily Caller News Foundation that a transcript of the interview is set to be released as soon as possible, but declined to immediately comment.
Democratic Virginia Rep. Suhas Subramanyam, a committee member, told C-SPAN outside the closed door interview that his “takeaway” is that “the system, once again failed survivors” and “failed to bring Jeffrey Epstein to justice.”
“It was clear incompetence and just a lack of oversight over Jeffrey Epstein that led to him being able to commit suicide,” Subramanyam noted, emphasizing “I do believe he did commit suicide.”
“But I do think he [Epstein] was treated different from the other inmates,” Subramanyam continued. “Jeffrey Epstein got special treatment in that facility … He had access to extra bed linens which helped him commit suicide.
Noel told federal investigators in 2021 that she thought she was the last person to see Epstein alive before his purported suicide, which has since spurred numerous theories about what happened during his final hours. The guard typed a Google search query for “latest on Epstein in Jail” twice on the early morning of Aug. 10, 2019, with both attempts coming less than an hour before thesex offender was found dead, the New York Post reported citing FBI records.
.@RepSuhas (D-VA) outside closed interview with Jeffrey Epstein prison guard Tova Noel: “The system, once again, failed survivors…Jeffrey Epstein, just like Ghislaine Maxwell right now, was given special treatment in incarceration.” pic.twitter.com/fpp3AZaocs
— CSPAN (@cspan) May 18, 2026
Although Epstein’s death has been officially ruled a suicide by hanging, including by the Trump administration’s Department of Justice (DOJ), many have disputed this determination. A federal judge on May 6 ordered the release of Epstein’s alleged suicide note which appeared to read in part, “They investigated me for months — found NOTHING … Watcha want me to do [illegible] out cryin!! NO FUN — NOT WORTH IT!!” (RELATED: Judge Releases Alleged Epstein Suicide Note)
Noel, a relatively inexperienced corrections officer at the time, was conducting an inmate count around 10:00 p.m. on Aug. 9, 2019, at the MCC where she says she plugged in Epstein’s sleep apnea device upon his request, the Miami Herald reported. She told investigators that while nothing seemed unusual with Epstein at the time, “exceptions” were “being made” for him “because he is Epstein.” She said that one of these exceptions was allowing him to use the device which had a long cord, something no other inmate was allowed to have access to.
In November 2019, three months after Epstein’s death, prosecutors filed charges against Noel and Michael Thomas, the other MCC security guard on duty on the night of Aug. 9, 2019, alleging that the guards fell asleep on the job, failed to adequately carry out their duties and falsified records to hide this. Federal prosecutors eventually dropped the charges against Noel and Thomas, who were both fired, in December 2021, while the trial against Epstein’s co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell was ongoing.
Noel, an Army veteran, graduated college in 2017 and started work for the Federal Bureau of Prisons in 2018, the year before Epstein’s death, PBS reported.
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