DOJ cooperation questioned in European Epstein investigations, officials say

U.K. prosecutors may have to drop an investigation into former ambassador Peter Mandelson if the Trump administration doesn’t cooperate, The Telegraph previously reported.

The Justice Department has essentially ghosted the European law enforcement agencies investigating deceased sexual predator Jeffrey Epstein, refusing to respond to their requests for assistance, according to The Washington Post. Law enforcement officials in Poland, Norway, and Latvia told the Post they reached out to the U.S for mutual legal assistance, but none of them received responses. Britain, which has asked for unredacted copies of some Epstein files, did not publicly comment, though investigations there have stalled as well thanks to the DOJ.“We are in communication with officials from the Department of Justice, but they have not at this time approved the request,” Marianne Bender, state prosecutor for the Norwegian Økokrim unit, said in a statement. “This is very unfortunate for the Norwegian investigation, and Økokrim hopes that the U.S. Department of Justice will approve our request at some point.”Lativian state police spokeswoman Simona Gravite made a similar claim, stating that they “sent several requests for mutual legal assistance to the relevant authorities in the United States. However, no responses have yet been received.”The DOJ has even refused to cooperate with Britain in its investigation into longtime politician Peter Mandelson—who was stripped of his title as U.K ambassador to the U.S. and forced to resign from the House of Lords. The Telegraph reported last month that the DOJ would not hand over unredacted copies of some files to assist in the investigation into whether Mandelson gave confidential government information to Epstein.This stunning lack of cooperation from the DOJ is par for the course at this point. Domestically, they’ve done everything they can to deny the victims—and the American public—straight, unredacted answers into an investigation that President Trump made a crucial part of his campaign platform. If Attorney General Todd Blanche can’t bring himself to meet genuinely with Epstein survivors in the U.S., it should come as no surprise that they’re acting in bad faith in European investigations as well. This is particularly sad. Epstein was extremely active in Europe, and international cooperation could have very well led to new connections in Epstein’s universe. Yet the DOJ continues to be uncooperative and nontransparent.