Overview
- Sen. Ron Wyden says a confidential tip indicates Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche intervened to stop the DEA from providing an unredacted 2015 OCDETF memorandum to his office.
- Blanche and the Justice Department counter that lawmakers may view an unredacted copy only in a DOJ reading room, not receive a copy for congressional use or public release.
- The 69-page memo, made public in heavily redacted form under the Epstein Files Transparency Act, outlines a DEA–OCDETF probe of Jeffrey Epstein and 14 others over illegitimate wire transfers tied to drug trafficking, prostitution and money laundering in the U.S. Virgin Islands and New York.
- Wyden argues the document is clearly marked unclassified and that EFTA allows redactions to protect victims rather than alleged co-conspirators, and he demands immediate delivery of a fully unredacted version.
- Separate inquiries continue as Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse seeks records on a related OCDETF operation called Trip Knot, underscoring a broader access fight following the task force’s shutdown last year.