As the Trump administration continues to resist its legal requirement to release documents related to late sex criminal Jeffrey Epstein, a new fight is budding over details of how drugs may have played a role in his lurid activities.
That’s the crux of the exchange you see below, in which Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., accuses Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche — a former criminal defense attorney for Donald Trump — of interfering with the public release of an unredacted version of a 69-page memo outlining a Drug Enforcement Administration probe of Epstein and others. A heavily redacted version was among the documents released earlier this year.
Wyden accused Blanche of preventing the release of an unredacted version to the public. Blanche’s response didn’t address the claim, asserting instead that Wyden and other members of Congress can view the document in a secure facility, where the administration has been accused of monitoring lawmakers’ search history.
Such secure facilities are, obviously, not accessible to the public.
The 2015 probe, as reported by Bloomberg earlier this month, centered on allegations that Epstein and other individuals, whose names were redacted in the release, were “involved in illegitimate wire transfers which are tied to illicit drug and/or prostitution activities occurring in the U.S. Virgin Islands and New York.” Among the redacted names are 12 individuals and two businesses, according to Bloomberg’s report — which has not been verified by MS NOW — including Darren Indyke, Epstein’s former lawyer and executor of his estate. Indyke’s lawyer told Bloomberg last week that his client wasn’t “ever aware of any DEA investigation.” Indyke testified privately to Congress on Thursday that he had “no knowledge whatsoever” of his client’s crimes, according to a public release of his prepared remarks. After his testimony, Democrats were questioning his credibility, MS NOW reported. (MS NOW is unaware of any allegations that Indyke participated in or witnessed any sexual abuse committed by Epstein.) The DEA memo would arguably put a new light on FBI Director Kash Patel’s testimony to a Senate committee last fall that his agency had seen “no credible information” that Epstein trafficked young women to anyone other than himself.
Ja’han Jones is an MS NOW opinion blogger. He previously wrote The ReidOut Blog. 
