Wyden accuses Trump DOJ of ongoing Epstein coverup
Jason Leopold at Bloomberg reports on the ongoing Department of Justice coverup of a DEA investigation into Jeffrey Epstein and others involving drug trafficking, money laundering, and prostitution:
Deputy Attorney General Todd 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.
The document, a 69-page target profile prepared for the DEA by the Department of Justice’s now-defunct Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces, was released in January along with millions of pages of other documents from the Epstein files. Although heavily redacted, it showed that the DEA and the Task Forces, known as OCDETF, investigated Epstein, 12 other people and two businesses in 2015.
The DEA-OCDETF defunded and shuttered last year, Bloomberg News reports “centered on the procurement of Eastern European prostitutes for high-profile clients and the illicit funding and distribution of so-called club drugs, including ecstasy, methamphetamines and ketamine, a drug known to facilitate date rape.” The redacted targets include “Epstein’s brother, accountants, attorneys and European women who worked as his assistants or fashion models, according to the people familiar with the case.”
The redacted Epstein files document is here. Blanche pushed back on FKA Twitter (of course) that an unredacted copy is available to members of Congress, but only “in our reading room.” That’s not what Wyden demanded.
Sex, Drugs, And No Rock And Roll?
“It appears Epstein was involved in criminal activity that went way beyond pedophilia and sex trafficking, which makes it even more outrageous that Pam Bondi is sitting on several million unreleased files.” Wyden told CBS News in February.
Wyden’s review of the documents suggets “Epstein was likely pumping his victims, including underage girls, with incapacitating drugs to facilitate abuse.” His letter in full reads (emphasis added):
Dear Deputy Attorney General Blanche:
It has come to my attention that you are preventing the Drug Enforcement Administration (“DEA”) from producing an unredacted copy of a report I requested regarding drug trafficking and money laundering by Jeffrey Epstein and several associates. By withholding this unclassified document from the U.S. Congress, you are covering up for pedophiles and obstructing my investigation into the financing of Epstein’s criminal sex trafficking organization.
For years now, I have been conducting an investigation into the so-called “tax planning” conducted by Epstein to finance his criminal sex trafficking organization. As part of this investigation, I am 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.
As you are aware, on February 25th I requested an unredacted copy of a memorandum prepared in 2015 by the Director of the DEA’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) related to Operation “Chain Reaction.” Operation “Chain Reaction” was a major investigation by the DEA’s elite OCDETF task force into drug trafficking, prostitution, and money laundering by Epstein’s criminal organization.
As you are also aware, the fact that Epstein was under investigation by OCDETF is a serious matter. OCDETF, which the Trump Administration recently dismantled, was a premier task force set up to identify, disrupt and dismantle major organized crime and drug trafficking operations. OCDETF worked with partners across federal agencies to conduct sophisticated investigations into transnational organized crime and money laundering. OCDETF frequently targeted dangerous drug cartels, the Russian mafia and violent gangs moving fentanyl and weapons across international borders.
According to the heavily redacted version of this 69 page memorandum, which was recently unsealed by the U.S. Department of Justice (the “DOJ”) in response to the passage of Epstein Files Transparency Act (“EFTA”), Epstein and 14 other individuals and entities were being investigated for their involvement in “illegitimate wire transfers” which were “tied to illicit drug and/or prostitution activities occurring in the U.S. Virgin Islands and New York City.” Public reports also indicate that Operation “Chain Reaction” found reason to believe that Epstein was involved in illicit funding and distribution of so-called club drugs, including ecstasy, ketamine and methamphetamines. Ketamine is often used to facilitate date rape by being slipped into beverages unbeknownst to victims of sexual assault.
It is my understanding that shortly after I requested an unredacted copy of this OCDETF memorandum, DOJ stepped in to prevent DEA from complying with my request. 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. My staff inquired with the DEA about the status of the production of this document and the DEA responded by directing questions to your office.
Your alleged interference in this matter is highly disturbing, not just because it continues the DOJ’s long-running obstruction of my investigation, but also because of your bizarrely favorable treatment of Ghislaine Maxwell, one of Epstein’s closest criminal associates. I should not have to explain the significance of the fact that Epstein was a target of an OCDETF task force investigation. It suggests the government had ample evidence indicating he was engaged in large scale drug trafficking and prostitution as part of cross-border criminal conspiracy and that Epstein was likely pumping his victims, including underage girls, with incapacitating drugs to facilitate abuse. I am at a loss to understand why you are blocking further investigation of this matter.
The excessive redactions of this memorandum related to “Chain Reaction” go well beyond the intent of the EFTA, which allows for redactions to protect the identity of victims, not members of a criminal sex trafficking organization. Additionally, the document is clearly marked as “unclassified” at the top of every single page. There is absolutely no reason to withhold an unredacted version of this document from the U.S. Congress.
In order to assist my investigation into this matter, I demand that you immediately authorize the release of this document. Now is not the time to cover up for Epstein and his network of criminal pedophiles and enablers.
Accordingly, please provide a fully unredacted copy of the May 18, 2015 memorandum prepared by the Director of the OCDETF Fusion center (OFC-TP-15-12392, SODOFC-15-12392, identified as EFTA00173953 in the DOJ’s digital Epstein files library).
Sincerely,
Ron Wyden
U.S. Senator
So much criming you’ll get tired of criming
Wyden’s colleague, Democratic Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island, is having similar issues with DOJ stonewallling, Leopold reports:
Separately on Monday, Democratic Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, the ranking member of a Senate Judiciary subcommittee, sent a letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi, Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Kash Patel and Cole, the DEA administrator. In the letter, Whitehouse requested records and details about another OCDETF operation that surfaced in the Epstein files that was also cited in Bloomberg’s reporting.
That operation, known as Trip Knot, was launched by OCDETF and the FBI a few months before Epstein was arrested and charged with sex trafficking, according to the people familiar with the case. It was a money laundering and human and drug trafficking investigation tied to Russian organized crime that was linked back to FBI and DEA probes in 2017 and 2018. Epstein’s name surfaced repeatedly in that case as well, the people said.
Heather Cox Richardson stayed up late to write about the DOJ coverup. She notes that it echoes a September 2019 letter from then-Rep. Adam Schiff of California to Trump’s acting Director of National Intelligence Joseph Maguire. It involved the coverup of the whistleblower complaint about the Trump’s “perfect” call with newly elected Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky that led to his first impeachment for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. Schiff was the impeachmwent manager for Trump’s Senate trial.
Richardson concludes:
But Republican senators stood behind Trump. They acquitted him of abuse of power, by a vote of 48 for conviction to 52 for acquittal. Senator Mitt Romney of Utah crossed the aisle to vote with the Democratic minority. Senate Republicans were unanimous in their vote to acquit Trump of obstruction of Congress.
And here we are.
Richardson means here we are again.