(Ken Silva, Headline USA) Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., has denied an allegation from his colleague, Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., that he blocked her attempt to subpoena the flight logs of notorious multimillionaire sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, who hosted numerous politicians, national security officials, businessmen and other power brokers on his private plane.
Blackburn made her allegation on Twitter following a heated Senate hearing chaired by Durbin, where members ultimately voted to subpoena Republican donor Harlan Crow and conservative legal activist Leonard Leo as part of an ongoing Supreme Court ethics investigation.
Durbin pushed through the vote in the meeting’s final moments after Republicans walked out in protest.
After the meeting, Blackburn tweeted the following: “[Sen. Durbin] BLOCKED my request to subpoena Jeffrey Epstein’s flight logs. What are Democrats trying to hide?”
.@SenatorDurbin BLOCKED my request to subpoena Jeffrey Epstein’s flight logs.
What are Democrats trying to hide?
— Sen. Marsha Blackburn (@MarshaBlackburn) November 30, 2023
However, Durbin’s office has denied Blackburn’s allegation in response to a Headline USA media inquiry.
“That is simply false,” said Durbin’s communications director, Emily Hampsten, in an email response to this publication.
Senate Democrats are blaming Republicans for “filibustering” throughout the hearing, Headline USA understands. That filibustering prevented Blackburn from amending the subpoena resolution to include Epstein, according to the Democrats.
Earlier this month, Blackburn surprised her colleagues with the announcement that she was issuing the subpoena for the flight logs.
“Since we’re in the business of issuing subpoenas now, here’s a few more I’ve filed: A subpoena to Jeffrey Epstein’s estate to provide the flight logs for his private plane,” Blackburn said during a Nov. 9 congressional hearing.
“Given the numerous allegations of human trafficking and sexual abuse surrounding Mr. Epstein, I think it is very important we identify everybody that was on that plane, and how many trips they took on that plane, and the destinations to which they arrived.”
A congressional subpoena for the Epstein flight logs be perhaps the most significant move by Congress to investigate Epstein’s ties to the various political elite.
Elsewhere, the Senate Finance Committee is investigating Epstein. However, that investigation is concentrated on tax evasion, rather than Epstein’s intelligence connections, his friendship with multiple U.S. presidents and other high officials, his sex crimes, his mysterious death or other Epstein-related topics.
“In particular, the Committee seeks information on Epstein’s participation in structuring trusts and other complex transactions designed to avoid federal gift and estate taxes on as much as $2 billion in wealth transferred to your children,” Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden, D-Ore., said in a letter.
Wyden revealed that his investigation has been ongoing since June 2022.
Thus far, the investigation has found that Epstein helped billionaire Leon Black avoid more than $1 billion in federal taxes, Wyden said.
The senator also revealed that the IRS has not audited any of Black’s trusts or transactions that are subject to the congressional probe.
And according to Wyden, Black has not been cooperative in the probe.
“You have refused to answer questions or provide documents related to payments you made to Epstein or substantiate how such payments were calculated or were compensation for services,” the senator said in a letter to Black.
Wyden asked Black to provide him with information on a number of Epstein- and Apollo-related topics. Wyden seeks, among other things, a copy of a “written service agreement” between Epstein and Black, as well as information about Epstein’s financial advice related to Black’s private art collection, which is worth over $1 billion.
Ken Silva is a staff writer at Headline USA. Follow him at twitter.com/jd_cashless.
