New Mexico's top law enforcement official is locked in an increasingly tense standoff with the U.S. Justice Department over access to federal records tied to Jeffrey Epstein's New Mexico property, threatening legal action if the impasse continues.
Attorney General Raúl Torrez accused the federal government on Tuesday of stonewalling his investigation into potential crimes at Epstein's sprawling Zorro Ranch near Santa Fe. In a letter sent last month to acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, Torrez complained that despite initial verbal promises of cooperation, the DOJ has refused to provide unredacted documents and has given no substantive response to his requests.
The New Mexico AG's office announced Tuesday it had set a July 31 deadline. If the federal government does not comply by then, Torrez said he would pursue all available legal remedies against the DOJ.
The federal government fired back quickly. A DOJ spokesperson denied Torrez's claims and said releasing millions of unredacted documents would violate federal law, court orders, and privacy protections for victims and witnesses. "To capitulate to their demands would be to break federal law," the spokesperson told Axios. "Is that what the NM AG is suggesting?"
At the center of the dispute is New Mexico's criminal investigation into whether Epstein trafficked and sexually abused women and girls at the ranch. The investigation began in earnest in February when state lawmakers opened a probe into the allegations.
Torrez's office has specifically requested unredacted access to a 2019 anonymous email that alleged two foreign girls were buried at the property. Annie Farmer, an Epstein accuser, testified during the 2021 trial of Ghislaine Maxwell that she was abused at the ranch when she was 16 years old.
A previous New Mexico criminal investigation into Epstein ended in 2019 without any charges being filed, leaving open questions about whether the allegations would ever be formally prosecuted at the state level.
The clash between state and federal authorities reflects a broader tension over how much access state investigators can have to sensitive federal records when federal privacy laws and existing court orders restrict disclosure. The outcome could determine whether New Mexico's investigation can move forward or whether it remains stalled by federal restrictions.
Author James Rodriguez: "This is a genuine jurisdictional collision that reveals how federal redaction policies, whatever their protective intent, can effectively shield state prosecutors from pursuing their own cases."
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