The top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee is accusing a prominent Department of Justice official, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, of blocking access to the details of what he is calling a “mysterious Epstein investigation.”
U.S. Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) called the move “stunning interference,” and said that the document “literally says ‘unclassified’ at the top.”
“Given Blanche’s close personal ties to Donald Trump,” Wyden added, “this reeks of a continued coverup to protect key names in the Trump administration.”
Wyden also said that Blanche, whom he noted was Trump’s personal attorney, and “was also responsible for Ghislaine Maxwell’s transfer to a cushy club fed … has intervened to block the DEA [Drug Enforcement Administration] from providing details of a mysterious Epstein investigation to my Finance Committee team.”
Wyden wrote: “Recent reporting revealed that Epstein was one of several targets of a big drug trafficking investigation a decade ago. DEA has key info. Based on what we know, Epstein was likely pumping his victims, young women and girls, with incapacitating drugs to facilitate abuse.”
The Democratic lawmaker pointed to a Bloomberg News article that said, “A Department of Justice document combined with interviews reveal that a long-running investigation into organized crime led law enforcement to suspect the serial sex abuser of money laundering, distributing ‘club drugs’ and operating a prostitution ring.”
He said that his team “immediately sought key documents from that investigation.”
“What was the result, and why did the investigation end?” he asked. “We were notified that the DEA intended to release those documents to the Finance Committee. Then Deputy AG Todd Blanche intervened.”
A separate Bloomberg Government report stated that “Blanche is blocking the Drug Enforcement Administration from releasing an unredacted document from the Jeffrey Epstein files about an investigation involving drug trafficking and money laundering, according to a letter Democratic Senator Ron Wyden sent to Blanche on Tuesday.”