Blanche
and
Donald
Trump
(Photo
by
Brendan
McDermid-Pool/Getty
Images)
Remember
when
the
Epstein
files
were
sitting
on
Pam
Bondi’s
desk
right
now
and
would
be
imminently
released
in
the
crowning
achievement
of
the
new,
most
transparent
DOJ
in
history?
Multiple
delays,
legislative
action,
DOJ
flouting
of
that
same
legislative
action,
and
then
half-assed
compliance
later,
the
Justice
Department
has
kept
millions
of
pages
hidden
and
moved
the
most
damning
possible
witness
to
a
cushy
resort
prison
which
was
totally
not
a
quid
pro
quo
to
keep
her
silent.
So
it
won’t
surprise
you
at
all
to
learn
that
the
Deputy
Attorney
General
himself
seems
to
have
just
intervened
to
block
another
document
from
reaching
lawmakers.
Man,
can
you
imagine
giving
up
a
Biglaw
partnership
to
run
interference
for
a
dead
pedophile?
Or,
you
know,
that
dead
pedophile’s
buddy.
Senator
Ron
Wyden
sent
a
letter
to
Blanche
on
Tuesday,
as
reported
by
Bloomberg,
asking
why
the
DOJ’s
number
2
felt
the
need
to
personally
block
the
Drug
Enforcement
Administration
from
releasing
an
unredacted
69-page
document
about
a
2015
investigation
of
Epstein
—
and,
likely
more
to
the
point,
associates
of
Epstein’s
—
for
drug
trafficking
and
money
laundering.
According
to
Wyden’s
letter,
when
the
Finance
Committee
sought
an
unredacted
copy
from
the
DEA,
the
agency
indicated
that
it
would
hand
it
over.
Then
the
DEA
—
at
the
behest
of
Blanche,
according
to
a
confidential
tip
received
by
Wyden’s
office
—
changed
its
mind
and
the
request
for
basic
transparency
about
an
11-year-old
investigation
pulled
an
Epstein
and
died
under
suspicious
circumstances.
The
unredacted
version
of
this
document
is
not
even
arguably
classified
—
it’s
stamped
“unclassified”
on
top
of
every
single
page
—
and
falls
squarely
within
the
mandate
of
the
Epstein
Files
Transparency
Act.
Wyden’s
letter
doesn’t
mince
words
about
what
we’re
looking
at:
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.
The
heavily
redacted
document
released
back
in
January
revealed
enough
to
know
that
the
DEA
had
investigated
Epstein
and
his
chums
for
involvement
in
drug
trafficking,
money
laundering,
and
prostitution
with
a
healthy
dose
of
organized
crime
connections.
An
informant
told
authorities
that
Epstein
was
involved
in
funding
and
distributing
ecstasy,
ketamine,
and
meth.
Nobody
was
ever
charged.
Yesterday,
Blanche
went
on
social
media
to
badmouth
a
federal
judge
for
“refusing
to
follow
the
law”
when
the
judge
dutifully
applied
the
Administrative
Procedures
Act
to
block
RFK
Jr.’s
brain
worm
from
arbitrarily
rewriting
the
approved
childhood
vaccine
schedule
based
on
vibes.
A
curious
accusation
for
Blanche
to
make
while
he
tries
to
cover
up
for
a
bunch
of
pedophiles
in
an
explicit
violation
of
a
bipartisan
statute.
The
identities
of
the
other
targets
in
the
redacted
document
are
blacked
out.
The
Epstein
Files
Transparency
Act
allows
redactions
to
protect
victims
—
but
not
so
much
the
perpetrators.
As
much
as
Donald
Trump
might
see
himself
as
the
REAL
victim
here,
even
the
Federalist
Society’s
most
committed
textualists
would
struggle
to
find
that
reading.
You
almost
have
to
appreciate
Blanche
embracing
a
personal
touch
in
keeping
Epstein’s
pedophile
ring
covered
up.
In
a
world
of
delegation,
Blanche
keeps
rolling
up
his
sleeves
whenever
it
comes
to
a
sex
crime
case
involving
a
guy
who
died
seven
years
ago.
Normally,
the
Deputy
Attorney
General
handles
high
level
management,
but
Blanche
is
flying
to
prisons
to
have
chit
chats
with
convicts.
As
Wyden
points
out
to
Blanche:
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.
Are
you
at
a
loss,
though?
I
think
most
of
us
have
connected
the
dots
on
this
one.
Meanwhile,
Senator
Sheldon
Whitehouse
is
separately
pressing
the
DOJ
on
a
different
Organized
Crime
Drug
Enforcement
Task
Forces
operation
called
“Trip
Knot,”
also
tied
to
Epstein-linked
money
laundering
and
trafficking
networks.
That’s
right
—
there
are
MULTIPLE
organized
crime
task
force
investigations
into
Epstein
that
the
DOJ
is
sitting
on!
Whitehouse
sent
his
letter
to
Attorney
General
Pam
Bondi,
FBI
Director
Kash
Patel,
and
DEA
administrator
Terry
Cole.
Probably
should’ve
written
Blanche
directly…
he
seems
to
be
on
top
of
all
this
Epstein
stuff.
Joe
Patrice is
a
senior
editor
at
Above
the
Law
and
co-host
of
Thinking
Like
A
Lawyer.
Feel
free
to email
any
tips,
questions,
or
comments.
Follow
him
on Twitter or
Bluesky
if
you’re
interested
in
law,
politics,
and
a
healthy
dose
of
college
sports
news.
Joe
also
serves
as
a
Managing
Director
at
RPN
Executive
Search.