U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) sharply criticized the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) on recent actions investigating the Los Chapitos fentanyl network in an Aug. 21 letter to Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco, saying the DEA administrator "appears to have coordinated more with the press than with other federal agencies," and the DOJ seems to have taken a back seat.
"This marks the third letter I have written to the Justice Department about its questionable decisions regarding the Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) investigation into the Chapitos’ fentanyl distribution network," Grassley wrote. "While the Justice Department (DOJ) failed to respond so far, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) at least partially answered my previous letters."
"Los Chapitos" refers to Ovidio and Joaquín Guzmán and their half-brothers Iván and Alfredo Guzmán-Salazar, who inherited the vast drug distribution network of their father, Joaquín Archivaldo Guzmán Loera, known as El Chapo, who is in prison in the U.S. "They have continued to use this network to pump fentanyl into the United States," Grassley wrote.
"DHS acknowledged an early working relationship between Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), DOJ, DEA, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)" targeting Los Chapitos in 2018-2019, he wrote.
After a failed 2019 U.S.-Mexican government operation against Los Chapitos, "HSI continued to track and investigate the Chapitos. This investigation resulted in a December 14, 2022, joint superseding indictment that consolidated HSI and FBI’s investigations and charged all four Chapitos brothers. However, DEA is notably absent from these efforts," he wrote.
Instead, the DEA created a competing case, "and your office for some reason allowed it." The DOJ "paused arrest efforts by all DOJ agencies from the moment DEA launched its unilateral effort," he wrote, citing an Aug. 9 letter from the Department of Homeland Security to him. “DEA Administer (Anne Melissa) Milgram attempted to justify DEA’s unilateral efforts by asserting no one had charged the Chapitos or their network with fentanyl and implied that DEA was the first to investigate the Chapitos’ fentanyl sales.”
He also said that during this period, two DEA informants embedded within the Chapitos' network were murdered in Mexico. However, the DOJ continued to defer to the DEA, allowing it to pursue its investigation, he wrote.
"Administrator Milgram appears to have coordinated more with the press than with other federal agencies to expose the cartels and crack down on these tragic overdose deaths," he wrote, saying Milgram "prominently features in this media (his letter cited URLs of Milgram media interviews) as she reportedly directed millions of dollars of DEA funds toward consultants (e.g., Lena Hackett), publicists (e.g., Julia Pacetti), and friends of friends (e.g., Boyd Johnson). These actions call into question the priorities of the DEA and demand oversight," he wrote.
Grassley demanded that the DOJ impartially assess the DEA's actions. He also demanded information about the deaths of DEA agents killed in Mexico and the Southern District of New York U.S. Attorney's Office's role in the DEA cooperators’ deaths.
