Justice Department blocked release of secret Epstein drug probe file, Sen. Ron Wyden says

Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon accused a top Justice Department official of blocking the release of a document related to a secret investigation of drug trafficking and prostitution by Jeffrey Epstein. In:

Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon accused a top Justice Department official of blocking the release of a document related to a secret investigation of drug trafficking and prostitution by Jeffrey Epstein.

Wyden said Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche blocked the release of an unredacted 2015 memorandum prepared by the Justice Department's Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces, an entity charged with coordinating complex drug and money laundering investigations across government agencies. 

Blanche said in a social media post, " A sitting U.S. Senator has completely fabricated a story for clicks. No one is blocking anything." He added that the memo is available to members of Congress "unredacted in our reading room," but Wyden never visited.

CBS News reported in February that the heavily redacted memo included in the more than 3 million Epstein files released in January shows the convicted sex offender was the subject of a Drug Enforcement Agency probe that stretched at least five years.

Wyden wrote in his letter to Blanche Wednesday that investigators for the Senate Finance Committee were told the DEA was prepared to comply with his request for an unredacted copy of the memo — until Blanche intervened some time during the last three weeks.