This article, authored by Harold Hutchison is republished under the Creative Commons “CC BY-NC-ND” license with permission from The Daily Caller News Foundation.
The man killed by Secret Service agents Sunday while attempting to breach President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida had an apparent obsession with the release of files pertaining to deceased child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, TMZ reported.
Two agents and a deputy from the Palm Beach Sheriff’s Office confronted Austin Tucker Martin, 21, who was armed with a shotgun and carrying a gas can, according to a press conference held by federal and local law enforcement officials following a statement from the U.S. Secret Service. The texts between Martin and a co-worker about the Epstein files from Feb. 15 indicated a belief there was a cover-up about the disgraced financier, according to TMZ.
Armed Man Shot Dead at Mar-a-Lago Was Fixated on Epstein Files, Text Shows https://t.co/irxZ8McckI pic.twitter.com/NLimuHGPE1
— TMZ (@TMZ) February 22, 2026
“I don’t know if you read up on the Epstein Files, but evil is real and unmistakable,” one of Martin’s texts reads. “The best people like you and I can do is use what little influence we have. Tell other people about what you hear about the Epstein files and what the government is doing about it. Raise awareness.”
Ghislaine Maxwell, Jeffrey Epstein, and former President Bill Clinton at the White House in 1993. (White House photo)
The Department of Justice released 3.5 million pages of documents from its collection of Epstein files Jan. 30, which included contacts Epstein had with Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick, and former White House strategist Steve Bannon.
The disgraced financier, arrested in 2019 on sex trafficking charges, apparently committed suicide in his Manhattan jail cell while awaiting trial. Even after he became a convicted sex offender, Epstein had extensive ties to celebrities, politicians, and executives, including L Brands founder Lex Wexner, director Woody Allen, and Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, the former Duke of York.
While Democrats have sought to tar President Donald Trump over his past friendship with Epstein, Virginia Giuffre, one of Epstein’s most prominent victims, did not accuse Trump of misconduct in her memoir, released after she committed suicide. Furthermore, Attorney Bradley Edwards, who represented some of Epstein’s victims, described Trump as someone who aided his efforts in a 2018 video.
“[Trump] was very helpful in the information that he gave and gave no indication whatsoever that he was involved in anything untoward whatsoever,” Edwards said.
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