A West Virginia attorney is representing a Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) whistleblower who says the agency allowed millions of illegal fentanyl doses into the country. And likely West Virginia.
Del. Tristan Leavitt, R-Kanawha, is the president of Empower Oversight. He describes it as legal aid for whistleblowers in the federal government.
His client, DEA Special Agent David Howell, revealed that the DEA allowed the Sinaloa Cartel to bring millions of doses of lethal fentanyl into the country in 2023 and 2024, mostly across the border into New Mexico. Those pills then headed east.
Howell says the agency let it happen as part of an operation to get the cartel leaders. This was at the direction of the New Mexico U.S. Attorney.
News Director Eric Douglas sat down with Leavitt to discuss the case.
Both of West Virginia’s U.S. attorneys were asked for comment but neither would say whether they would approve this type of investigation. U.S. Attorney Matt Harvey’s office noted that President Trump has designated illicit fentanyl a weapon of mass destruction.
This interview has been lightly edited for clarity.
Douglas: Explain to me what you do for a living. What’s your day job?
Leavitt: So I run a nonprofit. I’m the president of Empower Oversight, and we are basically like a legal aid for whistleblowers in the federal government.
Douglas: Is there that much call for that kind of thing?
Leavitt: There’s not necessarily a ton, but from my years of doing congressional...
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