Grassley, Risch, Rubio Call on DOJ to Relinquish Investigative File on Maduro Crony Alex Saab
As Biden admin heaps sanctions relief on Venezuela, Republican senators seek to reveal Saab’s crimes
Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), Jim Risch (R-Idaho) and Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) are urging the Department of Justice (DOJ) to release information from its investigation of Alex Saab, an alleged money launderer and close ally of Venezuelan narco-terrorist Nicolás Maduro. Their letter comes a month after the Biden administration pardoned Saab in a prisoner swap with Venezuela, marking another substantial concession to the socialist regime.
In a letter sent today to Attorney General Merrick Garland, the senators requested DOJ provide them with the investigative file against Saab and the confessions he made while in U.S. custody. The senators’ push for transparency aligns with their respective leadership roles on the caucus, committees and subcommittee that oversee international narcotics control, foreign relations and the Western Hemisphere, as well as intelligence.
“U.S. court filings disclose that Saab confessed to a serious criminal conduct, and his many victims deserve to know the extent of his crimes. History should remember him as a predator of vulnerable people within Venezuela and throughout the world,” the senators wrote. “The United States government closed the case against Alex Saab when President Biden pardoned his crimes. There is no basis for withholding the evidence against Saab from the American public.”
Grassley in September warned the Biden administration’s National Security Council (NSC) against releasing Saab and requested the NSC brief Congress before providing Venezuela further relief. In spite of calls to heed congressional oversight, the Biden administration proceeded to negotiate a prisoner swap with Maduro, who is, himself, a fugitive of U.S. justice.
The senators’ letter follows:
January 25, 2024
VIA ELECTRONIC TRANSMISSION
The Honorable Merrick Garland
Attorney General Department of Justice
Washington, DC 20530
Dear Attorney General Garland,
In December, President Biden granted Alex Saab clemency from United States charges, released him from custody, and returned him to his co-conspirators in Venezuela.[1] Given the serious charges in his indictment, we ask that you provide the investigative file against Mr. Saab and his confessions no later than February 7, 2024.
The State Department has described Saab as “one of the two most important money [men] in the Maduro government,” and “the middle man” between Nicolas Maduro’s narco-terrorist regime and Iran, the largest state sponsor of terrorism.[2] In March 2020, Saab brokered deals between Iran and Maduro,[3] and was arguably involved “in a mission designed to violate UN sanctions on Iran.”[4]
Saab used a sophisticated network of shell companies to launder “hundreds of millions of dollars in corruption proceeds around the world.”[5] He was so indispensable to his criminal network that the United States worried Iranian and Venezuelan operatives would orchestrate his escape from custody.[6]
Saab remains an unrepentant criminal who, within days of his release from U.S. custody, launched a propaganda campaign aimed at discrediting our country and American judiciary and law enforcement professionals.
U.S. court filings disclose that Saab confessed to a serious criminal conduct, and his many victims deserve to know the extent of his crimes. History should remember him as a predator of vulnerable people within Venezuela and throughout the world. The United States government closed the case against Alex Saab when President Biden pardoned his crimes. There is no basis for withholding the evidence against Saab from the American public.[7]
Given this, we request that you provide the investigative file against Mr. Saab and his confessions no later than February 7, 2024.
Sincerely,
Chuck Grassley
Co-Chair
Senate Caucus on International Narcotics Control
James E. Risch
Ranking Member
Senate Foreign Relations Committee
Marco Rubio
Ranking Member
Subcommittee on Western Hemisphere,
Transnational Crime, Civilian Security, Democracy,
Human Rights, & Global Women’s Issues
[1] Executive Grant of Clemency Joseph R. Biden President of the United States of America (signed Dec. 15, 2023), available at, https://twitter.com/
[2] Ex. X, email from Daniel Binder to Nicole Navas, Subject: FW: NYTimes questions—RE: Embassy Cabo Verde spox, U.S. v. Saab Moran, 1:19-cr-20450, Dkt. No. 146-6 (SDFL Oct. 13, 2022).
[3] Ex. X, Email from Elliott Adams to Brian Hook, U.S. v. Saab Moran, 1:19-cr-20450, Dkt. No. 146-5
[4] Ex X, Email from Elliott Adams to Bruce Swartz re Saab, U.S. v. Saab Moran, 1:19-cr-20450, Dkt. No. 146-4; Ex, X, Letter from AUSA to Counsel of Record for Alex Nain Saab Moran re Summary of Information Leading to Alex Nain Saab Moran’s Detention in Cabo/Verde/Redacted DEA-6, Dkt. No. 149-12, U.S. v. Saab Moran, 19-cr-20450 (SDFL Aug. 26,2022).
[5] U.S. Dept. of the Treasury, Press Release, Treasury Disrupts Corruption Network Stealing From Venezuela’s Food Distribution Program, Clap (July 25, 2019), https://home.treasury.gov/
[6] Ex. X, email from Daniel Binder to Nicole Navas, Subject: FW: NYTimes questions—RE: Embassy Cabo Verde spox, U.S. v. Saab Moran, 1:19-cr-20450, Dkt. No. 146-6 (SDFL Oct. 13, 2022).
[7] U.S. v. Saab, 1:19-cr-20450, Doc No. 226 (Dec. 21,2023)(“In light of Defendant Alex Nain Saab Moran’s release from custody and his recent grant of clemency the court order the Government, on or before December 29, 2023, to either (1) file a motion to unseal the sealed docket entries or (2) show cause why those docket entries cannot be unsealed.”), compare with, Doc. No. 228 (“ORDER UNSEALING DOCKET ENTRIES granting 227 Motion for Order to Show Cause as to Alex Nain Saab Moran.”).
