Bombshell Report Shows Epstein Backers!

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Parnas Perspective

Episode: Bombshell Report Shows Epstein Backers!
Host: Aaron Parnas
Guest: Senator Ron Wyden
Date: August 5, 2026

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Episode Overview

This episode dives deep into newly revealed details from Senator Ron Wyden’s bombshell report connecting major banks to Jeffrey Epstein and discusses the broader implications of ongoing legal battles. Aaron Parnas leads a conversation with Senator Wyden, providing listeners with an insider look at why critical parts of this story have not made it to the mainstream press—most notably, why a 60 Minutes segment detailing these findings was never aired. The episode places these revelations in the context of legal actions in New Mexico and the urgent need for transparency and accountability for Epstein’s many victims.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Major Legal Developments in the Epstein Case ([00:00]-[06:25])

• New Mexico DOJ’s Lawsuit Against the Federal DOJ
  • The New Mexico Attorney General has filed suit against the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) for blocking access to unredacted Epstein investigative files crucial for the state’s investigation into crimes at Epstein’s Zorro Ranch.
    • "[The state's lawsuit] argues that the U.S. department of Justice's refusal to provide unredacted materials violates the Administrative Procedures act and unlawfully interferes with New Mexico's sovereign authority to investigate and prosecute crimes committed within its borders." (A, [01:57])
• New Mexico Truth Commission Preliminary Report
  • Despite troves of records, there are significant gaps; many documents requested by subpoenas are missing or ignored.
  • Epstein's emails released by DOJ only cover 2009-2019, despite criminal activity starting in the 90s or earlier.
  • FBI tip-offs about potential physical evidence (e.g., "two dead bodies were buried at the Zorro Ranch") never made it to New Mexico authorities.
    • "There are significant gaps in the files that the Department of Justice released to the public." (A, [05:25])
• Broader Context
  • Congress and authorities in other states—especially Florida, South Carolina, Michigan—are neglecting New Mexico's attempts to probe deeper.
  • Host underscores why continued coverage is crucial for justice and accountability for survivors.

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2. The Suppressed 60 Minutes Interview & CBS’s Refusal to Air ([06:25]-[07:09])

• Wyden’s Un-Aired Interview
  • Senator Wyden shared his full findings with CBS reporter Sharon Alfonsi for 60 Minutes, expecting national exposure.
  • The segment was quashed by "Barry Weiss," never airing and with no reason provided by CBS.
    • "As soon as we heard about her, we said, oh, this is trouble. And in fact, there's no question in our mind, they just deep six this to this day." – Sen. Ron Wyden ([06:54])
  • Wyden suggests the suppression aligns with a pattern of aiding Trump by keeping damaging information out of public discourse.
    • "If they can do something to help Trump, they're always looking for it." – Sen. Ron Wyden ([07:14])

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3. Senator Wyden’s Bombshell Report: Banks, Cover-ups, and Accountability

([07:19]-[13:22])

a. Top-Line Findings from the Report

• Banks’ Complicity

  • Major banks such as Bank of America and Deutsche Bank enabled Epstein by ignoring illegal activity, facilitating monetary transfers, and failing to report suspicious financial transactions.
    • "Epstein would not have gotten away with sex trafficking for so long if the banks had done their job and followed the law." – Wyden ([07:33])
    • Senior, not junior, executives were aware and continue to receive significant compensation.
    • "They're getting big paychecks. And the reality is these are very high level people." – Wyden ([10:12])

• Deutsche Bank’s $250 Million Omission

  • Deutsche Bank failed to report over $250 million in suspicious Epstein-linked transactions to the Treasury—a new, staggering revelation.
    • "Deutsche bank failed to properly, properly and promptly report to the treasury department more than $250 million in suspicious transactions tied to Epstein. That is brand new." – Wyden ([08:34])

• Scale of Epstein’s Finances

  • Estimated well over a billion dollars funneled through these banks, though the full extent remains unclear.

b. Notable Individuals

• Leon Black
  • Emerges as a central figure, with massive payments to Epstein under questionable pretenses.
    • "My dad was a journalist, he said, follow the money... Mr. Black was giving these huge sums of money to Epstein. And he would say, well, it was for lawyers, it was for estate planning. And even the lawyers ... thought it was ridiculous." – Wyden ([09:27])

c. Lack of Department of Justice Action

• DOJ and Treasury Reluctance
  • Wyden claims DOJ has actively avoided following "the money" and that Treasury officials, such as Besson, stonewall his committee.
    • "No, I think that they went to great lengths to avoid the follow the money, you know, issues in the Treasury Department." – Wyden ([10:39])
  • Wyden notes his Republican colleagues were given documents while he and other Democrats were stonewalled.

d. Roadmap for Accountability

• Wyden’s Plan as Committee Chairman
  • If Democrats retake the Senate, Wyden promises subpoenas and renewed investigations targeting both banks and executives.
    • "If we retake the Senate, and I'm chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, you can be damn sure we're going to get some subpoenas out." – Wyden ([07:58])
  • Commitment to holding both institutions and individuals responsible, vowing never to let such abuse be repeated.

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4. Institutional and Political Barriers ([13:22]-[14:01])

• CBS and Systemic Protection
  • Wyden directly suggests CBS may have suppressed the story to protect President Trump and the "system," echoing a broader reluctance to confront entrenched power:
    • "It's very troubling that all these people line up to protect the system rather than protecting the public." – Wyden ([13:56])
• No Real Republican Support
  • Despite public statements, Wyden says substantive support from Senate Republicans is lacking.
• Ongoing Frustration with Federal Officials
  • Wyden is not hopeful about cooperation from Attorney General Todd Blanche, citing years of obstructed document requests.

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Notable Quotes

• "Epstein would not have gotten away with sex trafficking for so long if the banks had done their job and followed the law. That is the single most important thing."
  — Sen. Ron Wyden ([07:33])
• "They're getting big paychecks ... these were senior people. And some of them are still there getting big paychecks."
  — Sen. Ron Wyden ([10:12])
• "Deutsche bank failed to properly, properly and promptly report to the treasury department more than $250 million in suspicious transactions tied to Epstein."
  — Sen. Ron Wyden ([08:34])
• "It's very troubling that all these people line up to protect the system rather than protecting the public."
  — Sen. Ron Wyden ([13:56])

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Timeline of Important Segments

• 00:00-06:25 – Aaron Parnas breaks down the day's legal developments, sets context for New Mexico fights for records.
• 06:25-07:19 – Wyden recounts the CBS/60 Minutes interview that was suppressed.
• 07:19-09:13 – Wyden outlines key findings of his report: bank complicity, scale of funds, missing accountability.
• 09:13-10:53 – Focus on individual bankers (Leon Black), lack of DOJ action.
• 10:53-13:22 – Roadmap for future prosecutions if Democrats retake the Senate; frustrations with lack of Republican/DOJ support.
• 13:22-14:01 – Wyden reflects on the media and political system's role in impeding justice.

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Overall Tone and Takeaways

Aaron Parnas delivers the episode with passion, urgency, and a clear focus on accountability—cutting through legal and political complexity for listeners seeking truth. Senator Ron Wyden demonstrates equal frustration and resolve, giving listeners a sense of the entrenched resistance faced by investigators and lawmakers. Together, they bring attention not just to the facts of the Epstein case, but to the institutional mechanisms that enable cover-ups.

The episode is vital listening for those concerned about financial, legal, and media accountability—and for anyone seeking a deeper understanding of the systemic obstacles to justice in the Epstein saga.

Transcript

[A]

Earlier this year, Senator Ron Wyden sat down with CBS News reporter Sharon Alphonse and 60 Minutes. He outlined in detail how big banks helped Jeffrey Epstein commit horrific, horrific crimes and essentially cover it up. He outlined how Donald Trump and the Trump administration helped cover it up. And while that segment never aired, the interview was killed by Barry Weiss. Today, Ron Wyden sat down with me and told me and you exactly what he told CBS and what CBS refuses to air. It comes on a critical day for the Epstein probe. The only criminal investigation into Epstein and his associates currently ongoing in New Mexico sued the Department of Justice, taking Trump to court over the COVID up. The New Mexico Truth Commission was which is outlining what happened and investigating what happened at the Zorro Ranch property in New Mexico released its preliminary report. And more people have unsubscribed. People have told me I talk too much about Epstein. Well, here's the deal. I talk about it not enough. And if you support my work, if you subscribe, you're gonna get more. Because until the thousand plus survivors get justice and accountability, I will not stop. And it's important that the public hears exactly what Senator Wyden told me and why he believes the Trump administration is covering up for these banks. Before we get there, I want to walk through the major Epstein developments we heard this afternoon. Because first up, the New Mexico Attorney General filed a lawsuit against the Department of Justice for blocking access to the unredacted Epstein investigative files in Zorro Ranch. These records are central to New Mexico's investigations into the alleged crimes at the Zorro Ranch in Santa Fe County. The New Mexico Department of Justice reopened the investigation in February. The following month conducted the first law enforcement search ever of the property. New Mexico may be one of the last remaining jurisdictions positioned to hold Jeffrey Epstein's associates accountable and provide survivors of abuse. And at Zorro Ranch some measure of justice. The state's lawsuit argues that the U.S. department of Justice's refusal to provide unredacted materials violates the Administrative Procedures act and unlawfully interferes with New Mexico's sovereign authority to investigate and prosecute crimes committed within its borders. The complaint seeks a restraining order requiring the U.S. department of justice to produce the requested materials or at minimum, promptly and in good faith evaluate the request. Under its regulations. Quote, new Mexico has a duty to protect survivors and investigate crimes committed in our state so that perpetrators can be held accountable. That's what New Mexico Attorney General Raul Torres said today. And this is the prayer for relief in the lawsuit. They're asking that a Court Declare that the complete denial by the Department of Justice to comply with New Mexico, called a 2E request for these documents final agency action subject to judicial review under the Administrative Procedures Act Declare that the Department of Justice's denial was arbitrary, capricious or otherwise, not in accordance with the law Declare that to the extent the U.S. department of justice failed to observe procedure required by law, including its own regulations, and denying the State of New Mexico's rules request the denial is unlawful and more this is what the Department of Justice is asking today or the New Mexico Department of Justice is asking today. And it comes on the exact same day that the New Mexico Truth Commission released its preliminary findings into what happened on the Zorro Ranch in New Mexico, which a lot of you guys have been asking me for. Updates Updates. Well, the final report is not due until December 31st, but we have a preliminary report and I want to point out some key things. I've linked the full report below in my substack for you to take a look at. It's over 100 pages, but I read it all so that you don't have to Here are some key reports. First, they write that although the record is voluminous, there are still significant gaps in the evidence. So they're pointing out that there are significant gaps in the Epstein files. Transparency act records that the Department of Justice produced. See, Epstein's emails only cover the period between 2009 and 2019. We know that his crimes started in the 90s and potentially even earlier. They also say that investigative efforts focused on limited targets and limited locations that the U.S. department of justice, the New Mexico DOJ, the U.S. attorney's office in New Mexico has only partially responded to their subpoena for records, meaning that they've only returned sparse records of information that do not fully respond to the subpoenas requests, and others have just completely refused to comply with them or ignored them completely. So U.S. attorney's offices in Florida, South Carolina, Michigan, they're just completely ignoring the New Mexico Truth Commission. Remember, Todd Blanche oversees all those U.S. attorney's offices. They also talk about how the documents released in the Epstein Files Transparency act constitute an important source of evidence. However, there are numerous facts documented in documents released under the AFTA that cannot be verified or adequately assessed for credibility. For instance, the FBI received a tip on November 25, 2019 that stated two dead bodies were buried at the Zorro Ranch. The information, however, was never provided to the New Mexico Attorney General. So there are significant gaps in the Essentially, the files that the Department of Justice released to the public. I spoke with Senator Ron Wyden today about his bombshell report about why CBS News is covering up, why the Trump administration is covering up. You don't want to miss it. Like comment Share get the word out and and subscribe to support this work. Here's my interview with Senator Wyden. Excited today to be joined by Senator Ron Wyden, who released a bombshell report over the past 24 hours connecting all of the banks, bank of America, Deutsche bank and others to Jeffrey Epstein. Now, Senator, one part of the report that stood out to me was the fact that you sat down with Sharon Alfonsi at CBS for a 60 Minutes episode, and they never aired that episode to this day. What did you tell them that the public should know?

[B]

Well, I, I told them the real truth and I told them about the report. And I thought for sure that this was going to lead to a terrific program because we went down. It was actually the second discussion I'd had with them, but we went down the Senate Finance Room. We spent a lot of time. She asked about not just the specific stuff I was dealing with, but the Virgin Islands and some of the other areas where Epstein had played these horrifying games and hurt so many people. And I thought for sure that this was going to run. And as soon as we heard about her, we said, oh, this is trouble. And in fact, there's no question our mind, they just deep six this to this day.

[A]

Have you heard from CBS as to why they won't air the program?

[B]

Not a, not a word. And of course, you know, this another indication of the way these guys play it is if they can do something to help Trump, they're always looking for it.

[A]

Well, so I want to talk about the report. Specifically, if someone's never read the report, I read the full thing cover to cover. But it's a long report and it's complicated. What do people need to know? What are the top lines?

[B]

Well, the most important thing, it seems to me, is Epstein would not have gotten away with sex trafficking for so long if the banks had done their job and followed the law. That is the single most important thing. And these bank executives knew that Epstein was dirty. They looked the other way. They realized that they could make money getting referrals and that sort of thing. And what we do in the report, which I think is sort of the sort of next step, is we lay out a roadmap for prosecution investigation by federal law enforcement. And if we retake the Senate, and I'm chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, you can be damn sure we're going to get some subpoenas out.

[A]

I think that's great. I got to ask you, how much money was funneled through these banks to Epstein?

[B]

Well, we don't know, but I think it's certainly well over a billion dollars. Wow.

[A]

Wow.

[B]

And I think there's also something that didn't really get picked up yesterday because people said, Ron's been doing this for a long time. He's good guy. And he's talking about all these things, but I've heard a lot about it. Well, one of the things we pointed out yesterday is Deutsche bank failed to properly, properly and promptly report to the treasury department more than $250 million in suspicious transactions tied to Epstein. That is brand new. That is a staggering sum of money, $250 million. And I think it's sort of representative of what these banks did. Their goal was to do virtually nothing at the time because they didn't want to step on, you know, dirty money. And then years later, they thought they could get well by being retroactive.

[A]

I want to ask you about Leon Black because he appeared in your report multiple times. What's Leon Black's significance in all of this?

[B]

Well, he was really the start of this whole thing. You know, one of the things that I've always said, my dad was a journalist, he said, follow the money. And one of the things that my investigators found is that Mr. Black was giving these huge sums of money to Epstein. And he would say, well, it was for lawyers, it was for estate planning and like. And even the lawyers that we heard about, they thought it was ridiculous that you wouldn't give out these kind of sums of money if this was a straight kind of business proposition. So we use that as kind of the kickoff part to kind of start investigating. And every time we turned around, we found something else that was corrupt.

[A]

Now, something also that I noted in the report was that the bank executives, the individuals who knew about it, according to the report, they're still working at some of these banks. Is that correct?

[B]

They're getting big paychecks. And the reality is these are very high level people. You know, one of the things that I was asked over the last few weeks, well, who were these executives? Because you list a lot of, you know, people, and I said they were not junior people, these were senior people. And there's some of them are still there getting big paychecks.

[A]

Has the Department of Justice, to your knowledge, ever investigated this money link with the banks?

[B]

No, I think that they went to Great lengths to avoid the follow the money, you know, issues in the Treasury Department. I talked to or sent materials to Besson a number of times and he stonewalled every time.

[A]

Well, I want to ask you about that as well, because the report says that he actually gave over documents not to you, but to your Republican colleagues. Is that correct?

[B]

As far as we can tell. I know they went to the floor and said they were giving documents out to some of the Republicans, but not to us.

[A]

So what happens next? What is the roadmap if you become the chairman?

[B]

Well, what we're going to do is make sure that treasury, the Federal Reserve and the DOJ follow the roadmap and move to start holding the Wall street bankers accountable. So we're going to start with, follow up with the agencies, follow up with the investigative sources, follow up with some of the executives who are high ranking in these jobs, and we'll go from there.

[A]

Who are we going after first? Who are the subpoenas being sent to first? The big banks, the individuals in these banks. I mean, what does that look like?

[B]

We're not taking anything off the table. The people that we talked about yesterday in the report we put out are the ones that we think are the biggest danger and the biggest threat. And the point really is if you don't follow this up and stay with it, there's a chance that all this is for naught. And then it happens again. And I'm not going to say on my watch that girls and women get hurt again this way. It's not going to happen.

[A]

Have you had any support from your Republican colleagues in this investigation in the Senate?

[B]

Some Republican colleagues have talked to me about it, but no, no, no specific substantive kind of offers to help. And I think it's too bad because they gave big speeches, several of them, about how serious they were about it and they were going to protect people. And then when they had a chance to step in with a subpoena or something else, they were gone.

[A]

Are you confident at all that an Attorney general, Todd Blanche, would potentially look into this if you were to hand over all of the evidence you have?

[B]

I'm not staying up waiting for Blanche, that's for sure. And as you know, we've had one particularly ominous situation in the course of this. You know, we found in the 1990s there was discussion of Epstein being involved in drugs and money laundering and, and the like. And we've been trying to get those documents from Blanche. And one of them, it says declassified, it's not even restricted and he won't give them to us. So I don't think Blanche is going to be very helpful. And also, as the ranking Democrat on the Finance Committee, I'm the lead in terms of trying to get rid of this ridiculous audit exemption that Trump has gotten. I think Blanche has been up to his eyeballs in getting that and protecting it.

[A]

Senator, something at the beginning of this interview you said really struck me when you said that the reason potentially CBS wouldn't air this is to protect the president. Now, the president himself has said that he has done nothing wrong regarding Epstein, that they've been the most transparent administration in history. Take that. Take that for what you wish. Why would CBS want to protect the president here?

[B]

Well, I think that's the question. You know, we have been trying again and again to get all the facts out. I don't make a lot of charges in an indiscriminate kind of way. We try to get all the facts. But it's very troubling that all these people line up to protect the system rather than protecting the public.

[A]

Senator Wyden, thank you so much for the time.

[B]

Hey, let's do it again. Really appreciate it.

[A]

Hey, folks, thanks so much for watching. Feel free to add this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or anywhere you watch for the latest breaking news and daily hits throughout the day. Make sure to follow subscribe. See you soon for more.