Jeffrey Epstein’s cellmate claims he has evidence the Trump administration wanted the disgraced financier and left him unprotected “on purpose,” according to a document obtained by the Daily Beast.
Nicholas Tartaglione, a quadruple killer and former police officer, filed a pardon/commutation petition last summer alleging that Epstein was deliberately subjected to violence in the hope that he would not survive long enough to stand trial.
Before Epstein’s death on August 10, 2019, which officials ruled a suicide, prison bosses decided that America’s most notorious prisoner should share a cell with an accused mass murderer for reasons that have never been explained.
Tartaglione had a reputation for extreme violence and an avowed hatred of child sex offenders. Tartaglione — who Epstein told prison guards tried to kill him three weeks before he was found dead — claims it is “not a coincidence” that he was “intentionally” moved to the same prison as Epstein and “put in the same cell” as the convicted child sex offender.
Nicholas Tartaglione is serving four consecutive life sentences and asked Trump for a pardon, citing the death of his former cellmate, Jefferey Epstein, who complained that Tartaglione tried to kill him. / Sheet
In a 21-page petition obtained by the Daily Beast, Tartagloine says he believes the Trump administration wanted Epstein “dead.”
A White House spokesman said: “Anyone can apply for a pardon – like everything the Daily Beast writes, no one should take their trash seriously. President Trump has the final say on all clemency and pardon applications.”
Trump, 79, has repeatedly denied any knowledge of or involvement in Epstein’s criminal activities, but has long been haunted by his decades-long association with the super-rich pedophile.
The well-connected financier was found hanged in his cell at the Metropolitan Correctional Center (MCC) in New York City, awaiting trial on child sex trafficking charges.
References to the president and his many high society and political associates identified in the Epstein files would likely have been strong during public hearings.
The beginning of Tartaglione’s 21-page pardon appeal, obtained by the Beast, in which he makes his claims. / The Daily Beast
The circumstances surrounding Epstein’s death remain controversial, and many in Epstein’s inner circle — including his brother Mark, his co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell, his former butler and his legal team — do not believe he took his own life.
This week, outspoken podcaster Joe Rogan, once a Trump supporter, also criticized the government for placing Epstein in a cell with Tartaglione. “It’s weird that they took a guy who is one of the most important defendants ever and put him in jail with a mass murderer. Kind of crazy,” he said.
Epstein socialized regularly with Trump, who denies all allegations that he knew of or took part in any criminality by Epstein. / Davidoff Studios/Getty Images
Reports of Epstein’s death have blamed widespread institutional failures, but have been riddled with inconsistencies. A prison psychologist who saw Epstein in the weeks before his death reported that he said suicide was “against his religion” and insisted he was too cowardly to hurt himself because he could not bear the pain. Epstein’s lawyer, Reid Weingarten, later told a judge overseeing Epstein’s case, “At or around the time of his death, I did not see a person who was desperate or despondent.”
On Thursday, CBS News reported a document from the Epstein files showing that investigators saw an orange-colored figure on prison surveillance video moving toward Epstein’s locked housing level around 10:39 p.m. on Aug. 9, 2019 — despite earlier official assurances that no one entered that area that night.
Newly released video logs appear to contradict official accounts of who entered Epstein’s cell the night he died. / US Bureau of Prisons
The FBI memo described the image as “possibly an inmate,” while the DOJ inspector general’s review treated it as a correctional officer.
About three weeks before Epstein’s death, he was discovered semi-conscious in his cell with wounds to his neck. He told guards that Tartaglione tried to strangle him, before later withdrawing the complaint, saying he did not remember what happened.
Tartaglione, who was moved from Epstein’s cell after that incident, denied attacking the financier and even claimed he tried to save Epstein’s life, discovering him on the floor with a “piece of string” around his neck.
Metropolitan Correctional Center, where accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein died. Often called
“I never touched the man,” Tartaglione wrote in a September 2019 letter to the New York Daily News. “I despise anyone who hurts children, but whatever happened to him, I wasn’t going to be a part of it.”
Despite this, Tartaglione admitted in the same letter to the Daily News that he was a curious choice of cellmate for Epstein. “The staff here at MCC had hundreds of inmates to choose from, but I was their first choice,” Tartaglione wrote.
Tartaglione has now written a pardon petition to the president.
Rogan is, like many people, skeptical of Epstein’s death. / Joe Rogan Experience/YouTube
“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,” he wrote.
He explained that the bloody and violent nature of his crime was well known to his prosecutor, Maureen Comey, who was also the lead prosecutor in the Epstein case.
He claims several attempts were made on his own life after he was unwittingly dragged into the twisted story of Jeffrey Epstein. “Clearly, I was not intentionally protected, nor was Epstein. I truly believe the government wanted both Epstein and I dead,” he wrote.
The petition also includes obvious attempts to curry favor with the president. He is making allegations against Comey, the daughter of Trump nemesis James Comey, who has since been fired from the DOJ.
The letter also makes baseless allegations about Maurene Comey, a former assistant US attorney who prosecuted high-profile cases including Ghislaine Maxwell and Sean “P Diddy” Combs. / Brendan McDermid / REUTERS
He says he tried to get Epstein to implicate Trump in exchange for his freedom, but also claims that Epstein “told me that President Trump was not involved in Epstein’s crimes.”
The former policeman also claims that he was blamed for the kidnapping and murder of four men. He was sentenced in 2024 and is serving four consecutive life sentences, meaning he is unlikely to ever be released.
The DOJ did not respond to a request for comment.