Among the multiple bombshells that dropped in DC this month, there’s one extra big one that we can’t allow to get lost in the raging garbage fire news cycle Trump somehow created so that no one would trust anything they heard from the media.
Sen. Ron “Chutzpah” Wyden (D-OR, and my Senator, hence my nickname for him) released his highly anticipated report on the Senate Finance Committee’s four-year investigation into the American and Russian banks tied to Jeffrey Epstein’s international sex trafficking ring. The 67-page report specifically focuses on the failure of the Wall Street banks to blow the whistle on Epstein’s financial crimes, with one bank going as far as helping Epstein hide certain transactions to avoid suspicion.
Titled “Looking the Other Way: How Wall Street Banks Enabled Jeffrey Epstein’s Sex Trafficking,” the report exposes how top bankers shielded Epstein from federal scrutiny by delaying the reporting of suspicious financial activity to the U.S. government, likely in violation of federal anti-money-laundering laws. It includes new details about the extent of suspicious activity reported by Deutsche Bank after Epstein’s death, new details from bank reports filed about suspicious transfers to Epstein through accounts at Bank of America, and names top officials at JPMorgan Chase and other banks who were responsible for reporting Epstein’s shady activities to the government but instead protected Epstein to gain access to his Rolodex of billionaires.
Sen. Wyden’s Epstein investigation first began in 2022, with an inquiry into the sex trafficker’s “absurdly priced” tax planning for multi-billionaire and Trump crony Leon Black, the co-founder of Apollo Global Management.
In 2024, following a request from Finance Committee Democratic staff for access to Treasury’s Epstein files, the Biden administration allowed Committee investigators to review more than 1,000 pages of documents in person at the Treasury Department. Later that year, Sen. Wyden requested the Treasury produce the specific Epstein file for the Committee to investigate further. He made the same request early in the Trump administration, after the president came into office promising a “greater level of transparency” on Epstein matters.
And we know how that’s been going.
Sen. Chutzpah also obtained Leon Black’s settlement with the government of the U.S. Virgin Islands, and released new information pertaining to Black’s payment of $170 million to Epstein over several years, ostensibly for tax and estate planning services.
The Trump administration has declined to investigate over 4,700 wire transfers totaling nearly $1.1 billion, as Sen. Wyden detailed in this Twitter thread in November 2025.
The report goes on to reveal that the banks and Epstein’s estate have paid $900 million to settle Epstein-related lawsuits while refusing to cooperate with Sen. Wyden’s investigation. Also non-compliant is Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who has obstructed access to Treasury’s own Epstein Files (which most Americans don’t even know exist) not just to Sen. Wyden, but to the House Oversight Committee and its Republican Chairman, Rep. James Comer (R-KY) as well.
Weird, huh? I mean, why would Scott Bessent protect Donald Trump, who doesn’t think his marriage to a man is real?
In January, Sen. Wyden expanded his investigation with a new probe into Epstein’s relationship with Bank of New York Mellon and suspicious transactions showing hundreds of millions of dollars Epstein moved through BNY accounts. In late February, following the revelation that Epstein and several associates were targets in a secretive federal investigation into drug trafficking, prostitution and money laundering, Sen. Wyden sought details and a key document from the DEA as to the results of that investigation. Weeks later, Sen. Chutzpah announced that he had learned then-Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche had intervened to block the DEA from complying with Wyden’s request.
I wonder if Sen. Bill Cassidy knows about that part.
But wait, it gets weirder.
The report also includes the juicy reveal that Sen. Wyden’s lengthy 60 Minutes interview about his investigation — something we would have seen Mike Wallace sink his teeth into during the show’s glory years — was cancelled by CBS News Editor-In-Chief Bari “Israel First” Weiss, who never met a truthful story she couldn’t kill and replace with some propaganda.
According to the report, Sen. Wyden sat for a taped interview at a Senate Finance Committee hearing room with former 60 Minutes correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi on March 26th. The interview was part of a broader segment being prepared by 60 Minutes regarding the conduct of Wall Street banks and the government of the U.S. Virgin Islands, concerning Jeffrey Epstein and his associates. Over the course of the interview, Sen. Wyden answered questions related to his investigation into the transactions financing Epstein’s sex trafficking operation and potential consequences for banks over potentially willful violations of federal anti-money laundering laws.
“However, shortly after the taping of the interview with Sen. Wyden, CBS News Leadership, led by Bari Weiss, made the decision to fire Sharyn Alfonsi,” the report documents. “As a result, the interview with Senator Wyden will not be aired, and it is unclear whether Bari Weiss and CBS News Leadership will allow the broader segment to ever be aired.”
That’s pretty sus, as the kids say.
Sen. Chutzpah announced the 60 Minutes cancellation at the same time he released the report, and it all deserves to remain at the top of the news cycle for multiple reasons. Indie political commentator Aaron Parnas has a great interview with my Senator, which I encourage you to watch in its entirety.
🚨 The Epstein BOMBSHELL Trump Tried to SILENCE, I BREAK the TRUTH
It’s appalling to watch the biggest political coverup in American history play out in front of us like this, with the men named in the files being protected more than the now-adult women they abused as kids. With the new unredacted files handed over to a federal judge, it’s still unknown what consequences Trump’s co-conspirators may face.
Until then, I’ll be sitting down with Sen. Chutzpah on Friday, August 14th, when he’s back home in Portland for an exclusive update on his Epstein investigation.
