Feds Buried Pedophile Epstein's Secrets: Senator

The Deputy Attorney General has just. been accused of hiding an investigation. into Jeffrey Epstein and not just any. investigation wanting to allegations of. drugs and money laundering. Not only are. we going to get into the explosive. back-and-forth playing out over claims. of a cover-up, but we also got our hands. on the very document in question. The. document itself a very revealing DOJ. memo regarding a probe into the deceased. financier. Welcome to Sidebar presented. by Law & Crime. I'm Jesse Weber.

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Finance Committee, who has accused. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blance of. blocking the release of a critical memo. seemingly showing that Jeffrey Epstein. was under investigation by a task force. that specializes in drugs and money. laundering and prostitution operations. We have the memo. We're going to go over. what it says. A lot of it is redacted, but we get a good sense of it. But let. me just show you this war that has been. happening full public view. So, why did. apparently send a letter to Blanche on.

March 18th? And I'm going to read it all. for you. It says, quote, "Dear Deputy. Attorney General Blanche, it has come to. my attention that you are preventing the. Drug Enforcement Administration, the. DEA, from producing an unredacted copy. of report I requested regarding drug. trafficking and money laundering by. Jeffrey Epstein and several associates. By withholding this unclassified. document from the US 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. And by the way, that's because Epstein. was this like financial advisor to a lot. of wealthy and influential people, but. it always became a question, what was he. doing? How was he being financed? What. was he using the money for? As part of. this investigation, I'm following the. money and examining the extent to which. Epstein was able to utilize the US. 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're 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 US Department of Justice in. response to the passage of Epstein Files. Transparency Act. 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 US 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,

methamphetamines. Ketamine is often used. to facilitate date rape by being slipped. into beverages unbeknownst to victims of. sexual assault. It's 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. That's because, remember, Blanche had an. interview with Ghislaine Maxwell for. quite some time, and then she was. transferred to a different prison, right? That whole Was she transferred to. a cushy prison kind of thing? Did she. provide information to Blanche?

Remember, she didn't implicate President. Trump in anything that Epstein was. involved in or allegedly involved in. 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, which by the way, we've heard. those kind of allegations before. 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 US. 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 redacted copy of the May 18th, 2015 memorandum prepared by the director. OCDETF Fusion Center. Now, if you put. this into context, we know that the DOJ, the administration has come under a lot. of fire, a lot of scrutiny, that there. are materials that were redacted, that. were not fully released, that the.

allegation is that they're covering. something up, right? That they're. covering up certain allegations. I did a. whole sidebar on these unverified. accusations against the President of the. United States, President Donald Trump, and the idea of there was missing pages, there was missing interviews. And so, this is another allegation that is in. line with that narrative. By the way, Wyden followed it up with a series of. posts on X about this, calling it a. stunning interference, reeks of a. cover-up. And he told, by the way, CBS. News back in February, 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. And Wyden also wrote on X, "Huge. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, Trump's former personal lawyer, who is. also responsible for Ghislaine Maxwell's. transfer to a cushy club fed, has. intervened to block the DEA from. providing details of mysterious Epstein. investigation to my finance committee. team. So then, guess what happened? Todd. Blanche wrote back, posted on X, "Huge.". So he's basically making fun of Wyden, "Huge, a sitting US senator has.

completely fabricated a story for. clicks. No one is blocking anything. This DEA report is available to members. of Congress unredacted in our reading. room." By the way, that's in relation to. the fact that yes, members of Congress. are granted full access to unredacted. files at DOJ headquarters. Always has. been, of course, @RonWyden has never. bothered to visit. So you're seeing two. different narratives, back and forth. allegations. Okay. We got the 69-page. memo in the Epstein files, and yes, it. is titled Chain Reaction. It is from the.

DOJ's Organized Crime Drug Enforcement. Task Forces Fusion Center to Assistant. Special Agent in Charge of the Special. Operations Division. According to CBS. News, this was set up back in the 1980s. to fight drug trafficking. The Fusion. Center was opened in 2009 as a way to. kind of gather all of this information. and have a a place to share it between. law enforcement agencies. So we're. talking about a very secretive. intelligence unit of the DEA and a task. force that is fighting crime coming in. from all different kinds of countries.

Now, according to Bloomberg, this all. began when an informant came forward. with an allegation that Epstein was part. of a club drug operation, right? I. mentioned it before. Ecstasy, ketamine, meth, and also, by the way, prostitution. And I should also tell. you, Bloomberg reports that under this. Chain Reaction operation, the feds went. after a dozen people in New York, including members of the Genovese crime. family on racketeering, gambling, drug. trafficking charges. So this is a big. deal. But you go back to this memo, okay? Bloomberg reports that in 2015, the DEA requested that the OCDETF's.

Fusion Center create this target profile. memo on Jeffrey Epstein, and also with. respect to other individuals and. businesses to potentially support a. further investigation. Now, a lot of. this memo, the one that we see, it is. redacted, but Epstein is clearly. visible. It says target profile Epstein. DEA reporting indicates the above. individuals are involved in illegitimate. wire transfers, which are tied to. illicit drug and or prostitution. activities occurring in the US Virgin. Islands in New York City. CBS also.

reporting that its sources said the DEA. wouldn't have even opened this or been a. part of this unless there was some sort. of narcotics connection. So, you have. Epstein, you have what, these 12, 14. individuals, two businesses, mostly. redacted, although there has been some. reporting on who these people and. businesses could be. Couldn't. independently verify it, but you can. take a look if you want. It says target. for Jeffrey Epstein, right? That's the. focus. That's what we want to focus on. And you're only talking about financial. reporting from 2010 through 2015. That's. what's included in this report. And it. says that Epstein was the subject of.

seven unified suspicious activity. reports. So, 2015, 2014, 2013, totaling. over $5.6 million. Now, financial. institutions have to file these. They. file these when they detect any evidence. of potential illegal activity, money. laundering, fraud, things like that. So, usually FinCEN, the Financial Crimes. Enforcement Network, is a part of this. It's part of the Treasury Department. You also see in this memo currency. transaction reports. This is when.

financial institutions have to file. these when there's a cash transaction. that exceeds $10,000 a day. A lot of. this can be standard, a lot of it's pro. forma, it doesn't always mean criminal. activity, but you just have to note it. But, this memo says that the targets, including Jeffrey Epstein, are part of. the following case. DEA, New York. There. is a case number. It was opened in. December 2010. The status was pending. judicial, so it was an active. investigation. There's a section that. talks about a biographical identifying. data of Jeffrey Epstein. They also talk.

about transactions that he was involved. in, but also Epstein's guilty plea, right? Back in Florida, solicitation of. prostitution, procurement of a minor. charges. But it seems, when you look at. this, there was another investigation. going on. And it was with ICE. Now, not. entirely surprising when you think about. that, as there was reporting that since. 2009, so after Epstein pleaded guilty in. Florida, you had the FBI, the Treasury. Department, the State Department, the. DEA, all looking into Epstein. So, maybe. not that surprising that you deal with.

ICE. But I mean, look at this passage. ICE reporting indicates Jeffrey Epstein. pled guilty on June 30th, 2008 to state. offenses relating to solicitation of. prostitution and procurement of minors. to engage in prostitution. In fact, by. the way, under a linked investigation. section, it seems there was an ICE. investigation in Paris that was opened. in June of 2013, closed that October. It. was titled Operation Angel Watch. There. was another one, Las Vegas, opened in. 2009, closed in 2010. So, you do wonder. whether or not Epstein was under.

investigation for potentially harboring. or transporting illegals, perhaps women, girls from other countries. But you look. at all these agencies that are involved, DOJ, Secret Service, Customs and Border. Protection. How about this? Harvard. University Campus Police, Virgin Islands. Police. The Harvard University, we know. that Epstein has had a ton of. connections there. They've come under. fire for their affiliation with him and. when they also ultimately cut off. contact with him. There are certain. transfers, wire transfers, financial. transfers that were highlighted in this. memo, like the Deutsche Bank transfers.

By the way, Deutsche Bank came under a. lot of fire, too, for seemingly. continuing to provide services to. Jeffrey Epstein even after it said that. it would stop. Apparently only closed. his accounts after he was arrested in. 2019. You have a list of all of these. accounts. There's list of affiliated. banks, but there's also companies that. were connected to Epstein. So, you have. SLK Designs LLC, Hyperion Air, which by. the way, I believe that was used as a. holding company for Epstein's plane. CBS. reports that SLK Design was headed up by.

two women that were part of Epstein's. 2008 plea deal in Florida to those state. charges. Remember that was a way to. avoid federal charges, and that they. were named as co-conspirators. So, you. can see why this is all looking very. shady. And CBS reported that those. companies were set up by Epstein's. attorney Darren Indyke, who by the way, as I'm recording this, is being. questioned by the House Oversight. Committee regarding his connections to. Jeffrey Epstein. And this comes after. Epstein's former accountant testified, Richard Kahn. So, whenever we talk about. financial transactions and Epstein, you.

know his name came up. Now, he came. forward and he hasn't been charged with. a crime or anything like that, or. directly implicated in a crime as far as. we can see. He told the committee he was. not aware of the nature or extent of. Epstein's abuse of so many women until. after Epstein's death. He told the. committee that he didn't see anything. that suggested to me that Epstein was. abusing or trafficking women or. otherwise acting unlawfully while. Epstein was alive. I never observed any. sexual abuse or trafficking of women, and never recei- -ved either one of. Epstein's victims or anyone else of such. abuse or trafficking. However, it pains.

me to think and I deeply regret that I. may have unknowingly assisted Epstein in. any way. Okay, but going back to the. memo for a second. You have this. interesting part. It says, "Redacted and. Jeffrey Epstein are subjects together in. a 2014 USAR." I mentioned those. suspicious reports. FinCEN indicates. redacted was Epstein's personal. assistant and would act as a recruiter. and facilitator for Epstein's illicit. activities. Now, if you've been. following us here on Sidebar, there's a. lot of names that have come up regarding. who those assistants or assistant could.

be. Remember, no one other than. Ghislaine Maxwell has been arrested or. charged in connection with Epstein's. purported sex trafficking operation or. sex crimes. Yes, we've seen. investigations and arrests abroad. Look. at former Prince Andrew, but that's. always been more about allegedly sharing. secret confidential information, including with Epstein. But anyway, when. we're looking at this document, it is. significant. It seems by all accounts. there was an active probe into Epstein. on these other matters. And OC DETF. gathered all of this information on him.

and others from all of these different. federal agencies. You're talking a list. of dozens of suspicious activity reports. totaling $50 million in maybe. questionable transactions. And you have. combined 40 suspicious activity reports. They were sent to the Treasury. Department's FinCEN, right? Between 2010. 2015 and these 37 currency transaction. reports between 2010 and 2014 totaling. $1.2 million. So, it all raises the question of what. else could Jeffrey Epstein have been. prosecuted for and whether or not there.

are others to criminally charge. Although, if you've been following the. latest news, at least from what we're. hearing, it seems unlikely, possibly, that there's going to be further charges. or investigations regarding the Epstein. matter. A lot of this is getting. political. I will tell you this much, according to Bloomberg, Thomas Padden, the acting director of OC DETF until. September 2025, said he's not surprised. by Epstein potentially being involved in. transnational crimes. Quote, "Money.

laundering is always a part of it and. it's not surprising that it could touch. or potentially include Jeffrey Epstein. as one of the conspirators. The DEA felt. that they needed to inquire about him. and connect it into their case. And what. that tells me is there's smoke." Now, I. want to close this out with some video. Okay, so Attorney General Pam Bondi and. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blan spoke. to reporters yesterday after being. questioned by lawmakers with the House. Oversight Committee. And they kind of. went on the defensive about their. handling of the Epstein files, like.

releasing names of victims that. shouldn't have been released. Take a. look. >> Under the Epstein Transparency Act, we. had 30 days. to redact and release, under the law. that was passed, 3 million documents. If. you stack those up, that's the height of. the Eiffel Tower. No other administration, under the Biden. administration, they released zero. documents. So, we did our very best to. comply with the law. And of course, we.

don't want any victim to be further. victimized, and that's why we had 500. attorneys with the criminal division, with the national security division, with the FBI working around the clock to. do the best we could. I think it was. less than 1% um error. Todd, do you want. to add to that? >> Yeah, no, that's right. We we said from. the beginning that that any mistakes. that were made, and there should be no. mistakes. And so, when you say lawyers. have said something, that's a that's not. a fair question, and you know it.

Because we took pains to make to protect. victims. When we were ident- when when. someone identified that there was a. victim, we immediately pulled that. document down, fixed it, and put it back. up. >> Immediately. >> Immediately. And so so, of course, we. don't ever want to do anything to to. re-victimize anybody that was victimized. by by the horrible crimes of Mr. Epstein, but but and we didn't. And we. didn't to the extent that mistakes were. made, and there were mistakes made. because of the reasons the attorney. attorney Jones just said. But when they. were identified to us, we fixed them.

immediately. >> And by the way, when asked if she's. going to submit to a subpoena by the. House Oversight Committee for testimony. under oath, she said, "I will follow the. law." That's all we have for you right. now here on Sidebar, everybody. Thank. you so much for joining us, and as. always, please subscribe on YouTube, Apple podcast, Spotify, wherever you get. your podcast. You can also check us out. on NBC's Peacock as well. If you want to. follow me, X, Instagram, my NewsNation. show, Jesse Weber Live, Monday through. Friday, 11:00 p.m. Eastern. I'll see you. next time, everybody.