The top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee is accusing a prominent Department of Justice official, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, of blocking access to the details of what he is calling a “mysterious Epstein investigation.”

U.S. Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) called the move “stunning interference,” and said that the document “literally says ‘unclassified’ at the top.”

“Given Blanche’s close personal ties to Donald Trump,” Wyden added, “this reeks of a continued coverup to protect key names in the Trump administration.”

Wyden also said that Blanche, whom he noted was Trump’s personal attorney, and “was also responsible for Ghislaine Maxwell’s transfer to a cushy club fed … has intervened to block the DEA [Drug Enforcement Administration] from providing details of a mysterious Epstein investigation to my Finance Committee team.”

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Wyden wrote: “Recent reporting revealed that Epstein was one of several targets of a big drug trafficking investigation a decade ago. DEA has key info. Based on what we know, Epstein was likely pumping his victims, young women and girls, with incapacitating drugs to facilitate abuse.”

The Democratic lawmaker pointed to a Bloomberg News article that said, “A Department of Justice document combined with interviews reveal that a long-running investigation into organized crime led law enforcement to suspect the serial sex abuser of money laundering, distributing ‘club drugs’ and operating a prostitution ring.”

He said that his team “immediately sought key documents from that investigation.”

“What was the result, and why did the investigation end?” he asked. “We were notified that the DEA intended to release those documents to the Finance Committee. Then Deputy AG Todd Blanche intervened.”

A separate Bloomberg Government report stated that “Blanche is blocking the Drug Enforcement Administration from releasing an unredacted document from the Jeffrey Epstein files about an investigation involving drug trafficking and money laundering, according to a letter Democratic Senator Ron Wyden sent to Blanche on Tuesday.”

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A prominent former senior adviser to President Donald Trump is disputing his claim that “nobody” knew Iran would target neighboring nations or close the Strait of Hormuz if the U.S. attacked, saying that he personally warned him of those possibilities.

John Bolton, Trump’s national security adviser during his first term, “said that on multiple occasions he brought up scenarios in which Iran was attacked and responded with retaliatory strikes in the Strait of Hormuz and elsewhere,” The Hill reported.

“Well, I know for a fact that he was aware of those potentials. I raised the option of regime change in Iran several times during the time I was national security adviser,” Bolton told CNN.

“If you’re going to embark” on attacking Iran, Bolton added, “you better have answers” to how Iran would respond, “and certainly closing the Strait of Hormuz was always one of them and so were attacks on the Gulf Arab states, particularly their oil infrastructure, so he knew about it in his first term.”

“I find it hard to believe that he forgot about it in the intervening years,” the former Trump NSA said.

“Nobody, nobody, no, no, no,” President Trump said when asked if anyone had told him how Iran would retaliate. “No, the greatest experts, nobody thought they were going to hit – they were – I wouldn’t say friendly countries, they were like neutral. They lived with them for years.”

Trump also said this week that Iran wasn’t “supposed to go after all these other countries in the Middle East. Those missiles were set to go after them. So they hit Qatar, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait. Nobody expected that. We were shocked.”

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Three top House Democrats have requested the Department of Homeland Security preserve all records concerning longtime Trump ally Corey Lewandowski, a DHS special adviser to outgoing Secretary Kristi Noem. The Democrats have also separately requested that the Inspector General open a review into Lewandowski.

Investigative reporter Scott MacFarlane reported in an exclusive that the three top Democrats on the House Homeland Security, Oversight, and Transportation and Infrastructure Committees alleged Lewandowski, a Special Government Employee, served as a “shadow chief-of-staff” to Noem. They also “alleged Lewandowski might have violated rules and restrictions of designated Special Government Employees.”

“We write with grave concern regarding reports alleging serious misconduct at the highest levels of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS),” reads the letter from the three ranking members to Secretary Noem’s office.

“At the center of these allegations sits Mr. Corey Lewandowski, who continues to use his access to DHS leadership to wield outsized and undue influence over the Department,” they charge. “We demand DHS preserve all communications and internal records concerning Mr. Lewandowski’s role within the Department, as well as the Department’s practices, policies, and procedures related to contracting, personnel, and the handling of classified materials.”

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“Any deviation from standard record-keeping will be treated as an attempt to hide or destroy evidence,” they warned.

They also “alleged Lewandowski might have violated rules and restrictions of designated Special Government Employees,” MacFarlane reported.

The letter requests a broad range of records, including communications between Lewandowski and DHS personnel, contractors, and advisers regarding personnel, contracting, and other department operations, as well as “all communications between Mr. Lewandowski and personnel associated with the United States DOGE Service.”

Lawmakers are also seeking documents on Lewandowski’s finances, recusals due to potential conflicts of interest, and involvement in DHS decision-making.

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