Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche is accused of blocking the release of an unredacted report on a recently revealed drug trafficking and money laundering investigation into Jeffrey Epstein.
Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR), in a letter to Blanche, called on the deputy attorney general to turn over a 69-page target profile prepared for the Drug Enforcement Administration by the Department of Justice’s now-shuttered Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces as part of the congressionally mandated release of the Epstein files, reported Bloomberg.
“According to a confidential tip received by my staff, DEA Administrator Terry Cole was ready to provide an unredacted copy of the memorandum, but you stepped in to prevent him from doing so,” Wyden wrote. “Your alleged interference in this matter is highly disturbing.”
Wyden first asked for the document from the DEA on Feb. 25 when the years-long probe was first reported, but he said President Donald Trump’s DOJ intervened.
“Shortly after I requested an unredacted copy of this OCDETF memorandum, DOJ stepped in to prevent DEA from complying with my request,” Wyden wrote.
Bloomberg initially reported the DEA had opened the investigation into Epstein and a dozen other individuals in 2015 as part of a longstanding probe into organized crime, although none of the targets were charged with any crimes and it’s not clear how long the case remained open.
An informant told authorities that Epstein was involved in the funding and distribution of club drugs like ecstasy and ketamine, as well as procuring Eastern European prostitutes for high-profile clients, and the target profile listed 12 other individuals and two businesses who sources identified as Epstein’s brother, accountants, attorneys and European women who worked as his assistants or fashion models.
No charges were ever filed in that case, and Mark Epstein and others contacted by Bloomberg said they had not been aware of the probe.
Wyden followed his letter with a tweet.
“This is stunning interference,” he wrote. “The document I’m after literally says ‘unclassified’ at the top. The investigation it details is closed. Given Blanche’s close personal ties to Donald Trump, this reeks of a continued coverup to protect key names in the Trump administration.”
Wyden noted in his letter that he has been “following the money and examining the extent to which Epstein was able to utilize the U.S. financial system to make thousands of suspicious wire transfers and cash withdrawals for the apparent purpose of trafficking women and girls.”
He told Blanche that the document would help him continue his own congressional probe as ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee.
“In order to assist my investigation into this matter, I demand you immediately authorize the release,” Wyden said.
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