Politics
Richard Alatorre, pioneering Eastside politician, dies at 81
It was a meeting of two of the most powerful men in Los Angeles — and there was no way Richard Alatorre would lose.
Police Chief Darryl Gates and his command staff had stopped by Alatorre’s office to introduce themselves. Alatorre, newly elected to the City Council, stayed seated, feet on his desk, a friend looking on. Gates offered some pleasantries before Alatorre cut him off — and down — with a question: “Where are the greasers?”
The police chief was flummoxed. Alatorre, already a political force in Eastside and California politics, asked the same question again, letting the last word — an antiquated slur against Mexican Americans — make the top brass squirm.
Gates finally said he didn’t understand the question. The council member replied that the Los Angeles Police Department had no Latinos in its upper ranks, and that Gates could return when he fixed that. Meeting over.
It was classic Alatorre: uncompromising, uncouth and unapologetic in the name of exerting his influence to better Latinos. And effective: Gates eventually conferred with him about how to diversify LAPD management.
“I’m not just one that opens his mouth and [mau-maus] about a given subject and then moves on to the next topic without ever getting your hands dirty and trying to get something done,” Alatorre told a UCLA historian in 1990, a few years after his encounter with Gates. “No, I try and see it to its end, backroom deals and everything.”
Alatorre died Tuesday morning at his home in Eagle Rock after a long battle with cancer, surrounded by friends, family and former staffers. He was 81.
Mayor Richard Riordan, left, jokes with City Councilmember Richard Alatorre during an event promoting shopping in downtown L.A. in 1997.
(Ken Lubas/Los Angeles Times )
The son of a Mexican American mother and Mexican immigrant father spent his 28-year political career practicing what he called “change from the inside”: climbing California’s political hierarchies and bringing other Latinos up with him.
In Sacramento as an Assembly member, the gravel-voiced Alatorre pushed through bills on prison reform, bilingual services and farmworker rights. He oversaw a landmark reapportionment in the 1980s that helped Latinos enter the state Legislature in numbers never before seen, doing the same for Los Angeles after joining the City Council.
“A lot of us considered Alatorre to be a vato who made good,” said Jaime Regalado, professor emeritus of political science at Cal State L.A. Alatorre frequently spoke at Regalado’s classes and was more than happy to take questions from students who thought he was a vendido — a sellout.
“But lo and behold, through his reputation in his years, he became the vato for a lot of people,” Regalado concluded.
As he won rights and access for Latinos statewide, Alatorre built an Eastside political machine that drew accolades and criticism. At the end of his career, scandal threatened his legacy as he fended off investigations into alleged corruption and cronyism. Ultimately, his stature remained undiminished among supporters and even some rivals.
Gloria Molina, a onetime acolyte who built a competing Eastside machine in the 1980s and ’90s and once described Alatorre as a “bully” to The Times, gifted Alatorre a commemorative scroll at an L.A. County Board of Supervisors meeting just before he left public office in 1999.
“I’m glad that the wheeling and dealing will be gone,” said the then-supervisor, who died last year. “But at the same time, there’s a lot of things I think we’re going to miss. Richard offered the Latino community political power that it never had.”
Born in 1943 in Boyle Heights and raised in East Los Angeles, Alatorre grew up in an era when Mexican Americans were joining the middle class but found themselves politically ignored. He remembered his father, Jose, a stove repairman who instilled in his son and daughter the importance of education, bemoaning the gerrymandering that kept Latinos from electing more of their own.
On a rainy night in 1960, the family’s outlook on politics changed.
The Alatorres joined 20,000 people at East Los Angeles College to hear John F. Kennedy speak, a week before election day. Richard wanted to leave because of the terrible weather, but his father insisted they stay and witness history.
Kennedy “seemed to be the first presidential candidate reaching into my community and asking for our help,” Alatorre told The Times in 1989. “That represented hope to me.”
He volunteered for the Kennedy campaign as well as that of Leopoldo Sanchez, who became the first Latino judge elected in California. Alatorre became senior class president at Garfield High, moonlighting as a bill collector for a jewelry store before enrolling at Cal State L.A. There, he found a political science class too hard and his classmates too smart, so he told his father he was going to drop out.
Jose said that would create a self-defeating pattern and urged him to reconsider.
Former Vice President Walter Mondale, center, with his wife Joan and California Assemblymember Richard Alatorre, are greeted by a well-wisher during at the state Democratic Party Convention in 1983.
(Walt Zeboski / Associated Press)
Alatorre graduated from Cal State L.A., earned a master’s degree from USC and became a staffer for Eastside Assemblymember Walter Karabian. He headed Latino voter outreach for Tom Bradley’s failed 1969 mayoral run, taught civics classes to inmates at Terminal Island and served as Western regional director for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. As his star rose in mainstream politics, Alatorre maintained his dedication to the Eastside grassroots.
When protesters were jailed and held on $100,000 bail during the 1968 Chicano Blowouts, Alatorre used his connections with the Eugene McCarthy and Robert F. Kennedy presidential campaigns to raise $300,000. He convinced a judge to reduce the protesters’ bail to $15,000, then went to bail bondsmen he knew to cut a deal. He did the same during the 1970 Chicano Moratorium, which he left just before it turned into a deadly melee.
The following year, Alatorre ran for an Eastside Assembly seat in a special election and seemed headed for an easy victory. But in one of the biggest upsets in L.A. County history, Alatorre finished second to Republican Bill Brophy after a third-party candidate, Chicano activist and journalist Raul Ruiz, siphoned off votes.
Six months later, Alatorre ran again and won. He never lost a race again.
The rookie Assembly member initially found himself on the wrong side of Sacramento’s ruling class, clashing with state Senate leader David Roberti and Assembly Speaker Leo McCarthy, San Fernando Valley Assemblymember Howard Berman and Gov. Jerry Brown. Alatorre was nevertheless able to distinguish himself fast with his bare-knuckle style.
When the dean of UC Berkeley School of Law came before a subcommittee chaired by Alatorre to ask for more money, Alatorre told him the school needed to institute affirmative action first. When UC Irvine asked for money to build a medical center, Alatorre made his support contingent on opening health clinics in Santa Ana and setting aside 25% of its enrollment for Black and Latino students.
He was a co-founder of what today is known as the California Latino Legislative Caucus, originally numbering just five members. Alatorre also authored a pair of bills — one mandating bilingual services in communities that needed them, another allowing farmworkers to collectively bargain — that were the first of their kind in the nation. He rose in Sacramento with the support and advice of Willie Brown, a Black Assembly member from San Francisco who proved a kindred spirit.
“He loves clothes and I love clothes,” Alatorre said in his UCLA oral history. “He likes nice things, I like nice things. And we’re the two foulmouthed legislators.”
When Brown became Assembly speaker in 1981, he asked Alatorre to head the committee tasked to redraw the boundaries for state legislative districts.
Alatorre’s job was to ensure that Democrats kept their majority in Sacramento. But he also remembered his dad’s long-ago lament that Latinos didn’t have enough political representation. With the help of computer programs and the input of activists who testified at public hearings, he spread Latino voters over many districts instead of amassing them in a few, anticipating a future in which California’s Latino population would be dramatically bigger.
“It was a critical moment in Latino political history,” said Fernando Guerra, director for the Center for the Study of Los Angeles at Loyola Marymount University. As a graduate student at the University of Michigan in the 1980s, he heard Alatorre speak. “Richard talked about how what he had accomplished in California was doable anywhere.”
Back in his Eastside base, Alatorre was creating a political machine with his friend Art Torres. Torres beat a longtime incumbent for a state Senate seat in 1982, the same year two allies won newly realigned congressional seats. But one governing board eluded Alatorre and Torres: the L.A. City Council, where a Latino hadn’t served since Edward Roybal left for Congress in 1963. Standing in their way was longtime Eastside incumbent Art Snyder, who had survived repeated recall attempts and insurgent candidates.
In 1985, Snyder announced he was resigning in the face of scandals. Alatorre easily won the special election to replace him. Hundreds of people, including Brown, then-Assemblymember Maxine Waters, Reps. Mervyn Dymally and Roybal, and Cesar Chavez, attended Alatorre’s swearing-in at City Hall, along with a serenading mariachi.
Alatorre was soon put in charge of redistricting council seats. His moves not only led to new boundaries that enabled Gloria Molina’s victory in 1987, but he also strengthened three districts held by Black council members since the 1960s so that they would remain Black-led for decades, a reality that remains true today.
“He felt every person in his district had dignity, every kid had a future, and everyone had hope,” said Hilary Norton, Alatorre’s former chief of staff, who remembered toy drives organized by Alatorre in his district. “He believed in God’s power to redeem everybody.”
Richard Alatorre at a press conference with Francis Banerjee, then-general manager of the city Department of Transportation, in 1998
(Ken Lubas/Los Angeles Times)
Alatorre’s power continued to grow. He became the inaugural chair of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority board of directors and helped Richard Riordan become mayor in 1993. His former staffer Richard Polanco became the head of the Latino Legislative Caucus and continued his mentor’s goal of getting more Latinos in public office. Critics alleged that Alatorre seemed too eager to direct city contracts to supporters — and he made no apologies for that.
“I didn’t establish the rules of the game. I just learned them well and know how to apply them,” he told The Times in 1999 just before leaving office. “Yet they [the press] write about how sinister that is.”
By then, the controversies that always lapped at Alatorre had subsumed his career.
While he was an Assembly member, the California attorney general’s office investigated him and other Latino politicians for alleged ties to the Mexican Mafia, which proved unfounded. Months after his historic City Council win, Alatorrre paid a then-record penalty for illegally financing the race with funds from his Assembly campaign. He was fined again in 1988 for trying to steer a city contract to the East Los Angeles Community Union, better known as TELACU, which had paid him a $1,000 speaking fee.
None of this tarnished his image among supporters or diluted his influence. But a 1996 lawsuit, filed by a former MTA employee alleging he was fired for opposing a $65-million Eastside subway contract that would partially benefit Alatorre associates, proved more corrosive.
Local and federal investigators began to look at everything from Alatorre’s votes as MTA board chair to charities he promoted to his purchase of a home in Eagle Rock and even who financed the retiling of that house’s roof.
Those investigations resulted in no charges. But the most damaging blow to Alatorre’s reputation happened in 1998, in the midst of a custody battle. The dying sister of Alatorre’s wife had signed over guardianship of her daughter to the Alatorres instead of the girl’s biological father, Henry Lozano, an Eastside political veteran who had helped on Alatorre’s first campaign.
In sworn testimony, Alatorre said he hadn’t used cocaine in years. But a month later, the presiding judge in the case ordered a surprise drug test. It came back positive.
A few months later, Alatorre announced he wouldn’t seek a fourth council term.
“I guess one of my shortcomings was not being able to help people define Richard Alatorre,” he complained to The Times in 1999 on his way out. “Everyone got caught up in my style, in the way I dress, the way I talk, not what I believe in … my enjoyment in helping others.”
Two years later, he pleaded guilty to tax evasion after failing to report nearly $42,000 in alleged bribes. He was sentenced to eight months of house arrest, allowed to leave only for grocery shopping or work.
“For five years, I had to wake up wondering what the next story was coming up,” Alatorre told L.A. CityBeat in 2005. “Because of what happened, I’m the sum of the end of my career, when things were bad. I’ve got that asterisk on my resume that overshadowed 28 years of work.”
By then, however, Alatorre was in the midst of a personal, professional and political comeback that continued for the rest of his life.
L.A. Councilman Richard Alatorre congratulates Bernard C. Parks after Parks was named to be the new chief of the LAPD in 1997
(Gary Friedman/Los Angeles Times)
He found quick work as a consultant and lobbyist, sparking a 2010 investigation by the L.A. County district attorney’s office that concluded he did lobbying work without registering with City Hall but did not result in any charges. A new generation of Latino political hopefuls sought his advice, none more than Antonio Villaraigosa. The two had frequently clashed on the MTA board during the 1990s, when Alatorre was chair and Villaraigosa was Molina’s representative. By the time of Villaraigosa’s successful 2005 mayoral run, Alatorre was a key advisor and remained one until the end.
“He forgot more than I ever knew,” said Villaraigosa, who spoke this year along with Mayor Karen Bass at a banquet at the Bonaventure Hotel in honor of Alatorre, who was too ill to attend. “Richard knew what needed to be done, and how to do it. He was never afraid to kick the door open when it needed to be.”
And while Alatorre’s failed cocaine test in 1998 sparked embarrassing headlines, he also credited the humiliation with “saving” him in his 2016 autobiography, “Change From the Inside.”
“With help from those I love the most,” he concluded in the 429-page book, with a photo of him surrounded by his beaming family on the opposite page, “I discover[ed] the power within me to find redemption and in the process for the first time in my life, I also [found] peace and grace.”
Alatorre is survived by his wife, Angie; their daughter, Melinda; two sons from a previous marriage, Derrick and Darrell; and granddaughters Gabriela, Mariela, Daniela and Kaycee.
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Maine Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner has emerged as one of the party’s fastest-rising political figures, drawing national attention for his populist message and outsider image.
But as his profile has grown, so has scrutiny of his past conduct, with controversies ranging from sexually explicit messages and offensive social media posts to a Nazi-linked tattoo and campaign staff upheaval.
PLATNER CONTROVERSIES FUEL SPECULATION ABOUT LITTLE-KNOWN MAINE BALLOT REPLACEMENT PROVISION
In continued clean-up of those scandals, Platner came to Washington, D.C. on Tuesday to huddle with party figures at the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee headquarters just one week before his primary election.
The Marine veteran and oyster farmer has defended himself against the criticism and retained the support of prominent Democrats, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Sens. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass. Still, some have questioned whether the allegations could complicate Democrats’ efforts to unseat Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, in one of the nation’s most closely watched Senate races.
Here’s a look at the major controversies that have engulfed Platner’s campaign.
Explicit text messages and sexting allegations
Senate candidate Graham Platner is under fire, but it was his wife Amy Gertner coming out with a controversial five-minute social media post by the campaign to denounce the ‘attacks’ while she did not deny the allegations of infidelity in a new marriage. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
The most recent controversy surrounding Platner stems from reports that he exchanged sexually explicit messages with multiple women during his marriage, an issue that campaign aides were reportedly aware of as his Senate bid was taking shape.
The Wall Street Journal reported that Platner’s wife, Amy Gertner, informed a campaign aide about the text exchanges shortly after he launched his Senate bid as staffers were assessing potential political liabilities.
According to the report, Gertner discovered the messages months after the couple married in 2024 and disclosed their existence before her husband held a campaign rally alongside progressive Sen. Sanders. The campaign told Politico that the aide viewed the matter as a private issue between the couple and did not raise concerns about it publicly.
SENATE CANDIDATE GRAHAM PLATNER SENT EXPLICIT TEXTS TO MULTIPLE WOMEN WHILE MARRIED, WIFE SAYS: REPORT
Platner’s campaign later confirmed the existence of the text exchanges to Politico.
He also told Fox News Digital in a statement: “Amy and I went through something hard — because of me. We did the work, and I’m grateful for her every hour of every day.”
“I’ve learned throughout this campaign is that people don’t care about gossip or headlines, they care that you’re fighting for their hospitals, their paycheck, their kids… Our opponents want politics to be empty of content and empty of actual change — and beating that is exactly what our movement is about,” he added.
In a statement to the Journal, Gertner criticized the disclosure of the information, saying she had shared “deeply personal details” about her marriage with someone she considered a friend, only to see those details become public.
She revealed that the two attended couple’s counseling, worked through the issues in their marriage and have since emerged as a stronger couple.
“I know who Graham is. I know the man I married and the husband he has been to me on the best and the worst days of my life,” Gertner said. “That hasn’t changed, and it won’t.”
Nazi-linked tattoo
Graham Platner, a Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate in Maine, points to a covered tattoo that was previously recognized as a Nazi symbol during an interview in Portland, Maine, on Oct. 22, 2025. (WGME via AP)
Platner’s campaign also faced intense scrutiny after it was revealed he once had a skull-and-crossbones tattoo on his chest closely resembling the “Totenkopf” symbol used by Hitler’s SS paramilitary forces.
The Maine Democrat said he got the tattoo during a “night of drinking” while on leave in Croatia in 2007 as a Marine and claimed he was entirely unaware of its meaning at the time.
In an Instagram video posted in May, Platner elaborated on the tattoo’s origins. He explained that he merely selected the design from a flash tattoo wall while “carousing” with fellow Marines in Split, Croatia.
“We thought it looked cool,” he downplayed.
Platner said he was later “appalled” to learn the image resembled a Nazi symbol, arguing that his life and career have been defined by opposition to fascism, racism and Nazism. He also noted that he was never questioned about the tattoo during his military service.
MAINE DEM SENATE HOPEFUL BACKED BY BERNIE SANDERS APOLOGIZES FOR NAZI-STYLE TATTOO, VOWS TO STAY IN RACE
Rather than undergo removal, Platner said he chose to cover the tattoo because tattoo removal services were not readily available near his rural Maine home.
“Going to a tattoo removal place is going to take a while,” he told The Associated Press. “I wanted this thing off my body.”
The symbol was ultimately covered with a tattoo featuring a Celtic knot and images of dogs, which Platner said were meant to honor his family pets.
Deleted Reddit posts reveal offensive comments
U.S. Senate candidate from Maine Graham Platner speaks during a campaign event on May 17, 2026, in Portland, Maine. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
The keystone scrutiny Platner has faced during his bid stemmed from thousands of now-deleted Reddit posts that resurfaced after he launched his Senate campaign.
In posts first reported by CNN and Politico, Platner referred to himself as a “communist” and “socialist” and endorsed the slogan “all cops are b—–ds.”
In other posts, he argued that those who “expect to fight fascism without a good semi-automatic rifle, they ought to do some reading of history” and said that “an armed working class is a requirement for economic justice.”
DELETED POSTS URGING VIOLENCE HAUNT DEMOCRATIC SENATE HOPEFUL IN MAINE RACE
The posts under his since-retired username “P-hustle” were deleted before Platner announced his Democratic Senate bid in August.
The candidate has since addressed the posts multiple times, telling CNN and Politico that he was “f—ing around on the internet” during a period when he felt “lost and very disillusioned with our government who sent me overseas to watch my friends die.”
“I made dumb jokes and picked fights,” Platner said. “But of course I’m not a socialist. I’m a small business owner, a Marine Corps veteran, and a retired s—poster.”
In the posts Platner made crude comments about masturbating in port-a-potties and claimed a U.S. service member who took enemy fire in Afghanistan “didn’t deserve to live.”
GRAHAM PLATNER VOWS TO ‘COME AFTER’ BEZOS AS SENATE HOPEFUL ESCALATES BILLIONAIRE TAX FIGHT
The controversies have done little to erode Platner’s standing within the Democratic Party as he has continued to attract national attention and grassroots support in the Democratic primary bid to challenge Sen. Collins for her seat.
Since former Democratic Maine Gov. Janet Mills halted her campaign in April, much of the party establishment has consolidated behind Platner, and national Democrats have continued to support his candidacy despite the flurry of scandals.
The steady stream of allegations and past controversies has also drawn attention to a little-known provision in Maine election law that allows political parties to replace a nominee under certain circumstances after a primary election.
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Under state law, a candidate who wins a primary and subsequently withdraws by 5 p.m. on July 13 can be replaced by a nominee selected by party officials. Any replacement candidate must then be chosen by 5 p.m. on July 27.
There is currently no indication that Platner plans to withdraw from the race, and the Democratic hopeful has repeatedly vowed to continue his campaign. Still, the provision has drawn renewed interest as questions persist about whether additional revelations could complicate his candidacy.
Platner’s campaign did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
Politics
Commentary: Bass clears first hurdle, but if Pratt holds off Raman, the mayoral race could be a holy war
L.A. Mayor Karen Bass made what sounded like a victory speech Tuesday night.
Councilmember Nithya Raman made what sounded almost like a concession speech.
And former reality TV star Spencer Pratt relayed a message from the heavens.
“Well, obviously God wanted five more months of me exposing all the failures of our mayor, so it’s gonna be a fun ride,” Pratt said. “I hope she’s ready.”
Assuming Pratt holds on to one of the two spots in the Nov. 3 general election as the final votes are tallied in the next few days, the smart money will be on Bass, for reasons I’ll get into in a moment.
But the supreme being and patron of all pontiffs has to be considered a wild card. This is the first time, to my knowledge, that an incumbent mayor in the City of Angels would be running against a challenger whose campaign manager is God Almighty.
So here we go. We could be in for one of the more remarkable electoral adventures in city history, with a complete novice and MAGA conservative going up against a liberal career politician in a deep-blue city and state full of people who are tired of hearing excuses from Democrats. (If Raman ends up ousting Pratt, my apologies for jumping to conclusions. But it’s not my fault. The devil made me do it.)
If you intend to follow closely, as of course you should, maybe you can help me count the number of times Pratt plays the faith card. I went to St. Peter Martyr School and attended the church by the same name, and I don’t recall ever hearing a nun or a priest drop God’s name as often as Pratt does.
In fact, I just watched a clip of Pratt talking to Fox News TV host and Donald Trump disciple Kayleigh McEnany, and over the course of 1 minute and 52 seconds, he mentioned God or Jesus 10 times.
“Thankfully, I married an angel who was very connected with Jesus and has brought me to the light,” Pratt said of his wife and former reality TV co-star Heidi Montag. “It’s been very empowering to just pray and just be on his path and just say, ‘God, if you want me to save these animals, save these humans and protect my city, just keep putting me in the place where I can do that.’”
Is he running for mayor or cardinal?
Look, I totally respect your average true believer. But I’m not entirely comfortable with a mayor who might be sitting around City Hall waiting for signs and smoke signals rather than knowing what to do on his own.
God has a lot on his plate. He might be busy multiplying fishes and loaves so people don’t go hungry thanks to the president’s tariffs and warmongering. Is he going to rush to answer a prayer for guidance about underfunded parks or broken sidewalks in Los Angeles?
How did we get here, you ask?
Well, Pratt is an AI creation, in a way. A composite of sorts. You combine the forces of social media, political rebellion, second-rate celebrity obsession and the Peter Principle, and here’s a little Trump puppet walking around L.A. like he’s the chosen one.
Add to that the very real essence of his appeal to some voters:
Los Angeles has problems. Big problems that don’t get fixed quickly enough or at all, and Pratt represents the angry voter who wants to know why City Hall can’t do better and where all the money went. He’s absolutely right when he says we shouldn’t have people living on the streets, using drugs on the streets and dying on the streets.
But if Pratt is in the general election rather than Raman, we’re in for a national media circus rather than a summit on solutions. Raman is well-versed on matters of relevance and could have pushed back against Bass in substantive, detailed ways. On the other hand, as Pratt has fairly argued, Raman headed City Council’s homelessness committee, so isn’t she partly to blame for the failures she tried to pin on Bass?
As for Pratt’s policy chops, he has not responded to my offers of a get-together. Absent that, and given his careful avoidance of local reporters who know their stuff, I read his platform on his campaign website and I can tell you that while he touches on many of the right issues — public safety, fiscal integrity, homelessness — attention to detail and depth of knowledge are not God-given strengths.
Maybe Pratt can actually deliver on his promise of a “treatment-led recovery model that addresses mental illness and addiction as the primary drivers of chronic homelessness.” But that would require an act of God (which I suppose is possible given their relationship), because those matters are primarily under the direction of the county, not the city.
This is the main problem here. Bass was beatable, and could have been pushed by a serious challenger to do better.
In the last election, Rick Caruso gave her a scare. That was partly because he had some depth on the issues, he was a successful businessman and philanthropist, he had served on the police commission and the water and power board, he had built relationships across the city and, along with his family, he had poured time and millions of dollars into underserved communities.
In this election, it looks as though Bass could get lucky and face off against a guy who lost his house in the Palisades fire, saw a few homeless encampments through his car window, and decided he wanted to be mayor. Some might have questioned his hubris, but only before learning that he was on a mission from God.
If you’re keeping count, that’s nine mentions of God so far in this column.
One more for the tie, with an eye toward five more months of campaign fodder.
Thank you, God.
steve.lopez@latimes.com
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Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., suddenly found himself on the defensive at a budget hearing on Wednesday when, amid levying accusations of the Trump administration’s “corrupt” dealings, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent fired back by bringing Wyden’s son’s investments into the exchange.
“We would like to hear what Adam Wyden and Jeffrey Epstein talked about,” Bessent said, referring to unearthed emails drawing a connection between the senator’s son and the disgraced financier.
“Did your son and Jeffrey Epstein talk about pole dancing as he begged him for money?”
The moment continues the political fallout for the many names associated with Epstein that — despite not amounting to proof of wrongdoing — continue to prompt embarrassment and scandal at even the smallest mention.
TOP FIERY MOMENTS AS DEMOCRATS CLASH WITH TREASURY SECRETARY BESSENT IN CHAOTIC HILL HEARINGS
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, left, pictured along Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore, right. (Aaron Schwartz/Bloomberg via Getty Images; Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Epstein, a former financier, died while in prison on charges of sex trafficking minors in 2019, leaving behind questions of whether he facilitated illegal sexual encounters for his vast network of rich and powerful figures.
Amid public demands for transparency on the matter, the Department of Justice released troves of documents on Epstein late last year, unveiling a slew of new names with all manner of ties to the infamous figure ranging from purely innocuous to alarming.
Among them, emails surfaced indicating that Adam Wyden, Ron Wyden’s son, went to Epstein, hoping to gain his support for a business venture.
UNEARTHED EMAILS REVEAL DEM SENATOR’S SON WANTED EPSTEIN TO JOIN HIS FUND: ‘ENJOYED OUR CONVERSATION’
Sen. Ron Wyden leaves a Senate Democratic meeting at the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 3, 2025, as the federal government shuts down after Congress and the White House failed to reach a funding deal. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
“Jeffrey, I wanted to thank you for taking the time to meet with me. I thoroughly enjoyed our conversation and hope my passion and dedication for my business came through in the meeting. I live and breathe this business and take my returns, integrity and reputation quite seriously,” the younger Wyden said in an email in April 2016.
“I intensely appreciate like-minded individuals and would very much look forward to having you join us at the fund.”
The emails came after Epstein pleaded guilty to soliciting a minor for prostitution in Florida in 2008.
It’s unclear what the business venture discussed by Adam Wyden and Epstein may have been or what, specifically, had been discussed in their conversations.
Even so, Bessent reminded viewers that the younger Wyden had a history of investing in off-color markets at Wednesday’s hearing.
DEMOCRATS ARE HAMMERING REPUBLICANS ON EPSTEIN, BUT ONE SENATOR BRUSHED OFF THE ISSUE YEARS AGO
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent addresses a press conference in Rosenbad after trade talks between the U.S. and China concluded in Stockholm, Sweden, on July 29, 2025. (Magnus Lejhall/TT News Agency/AFP via Getty Images)
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“Your son’s largest investment position was Rick’s Cabaret,” Bessent said, referring to a series of strip clubs.
Wyden, who has widely panned the Trump administration and its many officials for their own connections to Epstein, didn’t respond to Bessent’s jabs.
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