One of the two people guarding Jeffrey Epstein when he apparently hanged himself in a federal jail cell was not a full-fledged correctional officer, and neither guard had checked on Mr. Epstein for several hours before he was discovered, prison and law-enforcement officials said.
 
Those details emerged on Monday as Attorney General William P. Barr sharply criticized the management of the federal jail in Manhattan where Mr. Epstein, who was accused of sexually abusing dozens of teenage girls, was found dead on Saturday morning.
 
“We are now learning of serious irregularities at this facility that are deeply concerning and demand a thorough investigation,” said Mr. Barr, who, as the country’s top law enforcement official, is responsible for federal prisons.
 
“We will get to the bottom of what happened,” he added. “There will be accountability.”
 

A New York Times investigation published last year detailed this practice, under which federal prisons are so strapped for correctional officers that they regularly compel teachers, nurses, secretaries and other support staff members to step in. The practice has grown at some prisons as the Trump administration has curtailed the hiring of correctional officers.

A shortage of Correction Officers at the Federal Metropolitan Correction Center in lower Manhattan is forcing officers to work three or four double shifts a week, according to Serene Gregg, president of American Federation of Government Employees Local 3148.

Conditions at MCC are not an anomaly, but emblematic of a national staffing crisis throughout the U.S. Bureau of Prisons. It has continued under the Trump administration, which called for cutting 6,000 Correction Officers slots, according to AFGE and an in-depth report done recently by the New York Times.

12.019 : c’est le nombre d’allégations fausses ou trompeuses faites par Trump depuis le premier jour de sa présidence jusqu’au 5 août, principalement sur l’immigration et l’économie, selon une analyse du Washington Post qui répertorie toutes les déclarations du président américain. Une tendance qui ne fait que s’aggraver. Le 26 avril dernier, Trump a dépassé la barre des 10.000 propos mensongers ou trompeurs. Depuis, il a fait environ 26 fausses déclarations par jour pour une moyenne de 13 depuis le début de sa présidence.

President Trump has sent highly unusual, Sharpie-written notes to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at least twice, Axios has learned.
 
One missive was so odd, the Canadian ambassador double-checked with the White House to be sure it wasn't a prank. In at least one instance, Trudeau also wrote to Trump. The exchange of handwritten notes, never before reported, was confirmed by several sources with firsthand knowledge.
 
The diplomatic missives include:
 
A torn-out Bloomberg Businessweek cover featuring a portrait of Justin Trudeau.
A back-and-forth about U.S.-Canada trade figures that culminated in Trudeau sending Trump a printout of the website of the Office of the United States Trade Representative with a smiley face beside the U.S. government figure showing America has a trade surplus with Canada (contrary to Trump's claims).
Context: The May 1–7, 2017, issue of Bloomberg Businessweek — featuring a picture of Trudeau headlined "The Anti-Trump" — caught President Trump's attention, according to 4 sources with direct knowledge. Trump tore the cover off the magazine and wrote on it, in silver Sharpie, something to the effect of "Looking good! Hope it's not true!" according to these sources.
 
Before the White House mailed this diplomatic correspondence, it went through the normal clearance process inside the National Security Council. While some White House staff thought it was not the appropriate way to communicate with a foreign leader, they ultimately figured "it was done in good fun and would be interpreted as positive outreach," said a source with direct knowledge of what happened. So the White House mailed the magazine cover to the Canadian Embassy in Washington.
The Canadian ambassador thought it was a prank, according to 2 sources familiar with the situation. He called the White House to check, and a White House official confirmed to the ambassador that the note was real, one of these sources said.