New Mexico’s congressional delegation is working to make it easier for Attorney General Raúl Torrez to investigate allegations of crimes by Jeffrey Epstein.
Mere days after Torrez called out the U.S. Department of Justice for withholding unredacted Epstein files from his office, U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich, D-NM, on Wednesday took time during Jay Clayton’s Senate confirmation hearing for the post of Director of National Intelligence to grill Clayton about his role in holding back documents and evidence related to Epstein's alleged crimes at Zorro Ranch.
Clayton is the current U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York. In 2019, federal prosecutors requested New Mexico drop an investigation into Epstein and instead provide documents, witness statements and other materials to Clayton’s office for their own Epstein investigation, which never bore fruit.
Heinrich confronted Clayton about the investigation and the release of documents afterwards.
“Harry Truman used to have a sign on his desk that said ‘The buck stops here,’” Heinrich said. “Who has a sign on their desk in this case?”
“For the Southern District documents,” Clayton replied, “it was me.”
Henrich asked Clayton to commit to providing the unredacted documents and other relevant information to the new investigation under Torrez, to which Clayton replied he had been discussing the issue with his team.
“Those documents are subject to several protections, for those redactions, including a protective order of the court. My folks, I think, as we speak, are seeking dialogue with the attorney general to see if we can reach an accommodation that is consistent with those protective orders.”
On Thursday, U.S. Sen Ben Ray Lujan, D-NM, and U.S. Rep. Theresa Leger Fernandez, D-NM, announced they are both cosponsoring bills in each chamber aimed at giving interested parties the legal recourse against the federal government for failing to comply with the Epstein Files Transparency Act.
Also sponsoring the bill, called the Epstein Files Transparency Act II, in the Senate is Democrat Jeff Merkley from Oregon. Kentucky Republican Thomas Massie and California Democrat Ro Khanna, joined Leger Fernández on the House legislation. Lujan, Merkley, Massie, and Khanna were all sponsors of the first act, and Leger Fernandez championed it, helping to get it passed.
Lujan said President Trump’s Department of Justice has “failed to comply with the law by releasing the Epstein files and delivering justice for survivors,” the bill is necessary “to ensure accountability, transparency, and justice for survivors.”
“Our legislation empowers state attorneys general and victims to challenge this Department of Justice for failing to provide the transparency and accountability that Epstein’s victims deserve.”
In a video posted to social media, Khanna said not all the files have been released, and a federal judge has found that the USDOJ illegally withheld documents and failed to comply with Epstein files Transparency Act.
“Now survivors will be able to sue,” Khanna said, “and state’s attorney generals will be able to sue to finally release these documents so we can have justice.”
The bills will next be referred to committees for review.
Support for this coverage comes from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.
