{"id":159691,"date":"2026-08-06T12:51:48","date_gmt":"2026-08-06T20:51:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2026\/08\/06\/the-doj-has-betrayed-epstein-survivors-new-mexico-is-suing-over-the-latest-issue\/"},"modified":"2026-08-06T12:51:48","modified_gmt":"2026-08-06T20:51:48","slug":"the-doj-has-betrayed-epstein-survivors-new-mexico-is-suing-over-the-latest-issue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2026\/08\/06\/the-doj-has-betrayed-epstein-survivors-new-mexico-is-suing-over-the-latest-issue\/","title":{"rendered":"The DOJ Has Betrayed Epstein Survivors \u2014 New Mexico Is Suing Over The Latest Issue"},"content":{"rendered":"

New Mexico Attorney General Ra\u00fal Torrez filed a federal lawsuit<\/a> Wednesday against Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and the U.S. Department of Justice, demanding access to unredacted Epstein investigative files that the DOJ has been withholding, files New Mexico says are critical to its ongoing criminal investigation into crimes committed at Jeffrey Epstein\u2019s Zorro Ranch outside Santa Fe.<\/p>\n

In 2019, federal prosecutors asked New Mexico to pause its state investigation into Epstein-related crimes at Zorro Ranch, promising they would share relevant information when their own investigation concluded. New Mexico agreed, and stood down. According to the complaint, they gave up timely access to witnesses, victims, and other evidence in good faith. \u201cNew Mexico had no reason to believe federal law enforcement would break their promise,\u201d Torrez writes in the complaint, \u201cand deviate from historical practice just to block their state counterparts from successfully investigating child sexual abuse under state law.\u201d<\/p>\n

But, the complaint alleges, the information was never shared. <\/p>\n

New Mexico reopened its investigation in February 2026, conducted the first-ever law enforcement search of Zorro Ranch<\/a> on March 9, and sent a letter to then-Attorney General Pam Bondi on March 13 requesting unredacted copies of five specific documents and general access to Zorro Ranch-related materials. A response was requested by March 27. None came. On April 1, an Associate Deputy AG said DOJ was willing to cooperate and told New Mexico to submit formal request under its Touhy<\/em> regulations. The state did so on May 3, and more than 100 days later, they have received no substantive response.<\/p>\n

So, that\u2019s how we get this lawsuit. <\/p>\n

The complaint is worth reading in full for its indictment of DOJ\u2019s conduct, not just in this investigation, but across the entire history of Epstein-related federal action. Torrez argues the DOJ has \u201cbetrayed survivors and the public related to Jeffrey Epstein and his co-conspirators at least three times.\u201d First, the secret non-prosecution agreement with Epstein in 2007 that was negotiated without consulting survivors; second, the public release of Epstein files that was required by the bipartisan Epstein Transparency Act, which had piss poor redactions that revealed personal information of the survivors; and third, the current stonewalling of New Mexico\u2019s state criminal investigation. \u201cFederal inaction does not merely stall the investigation,\u201d the complaint notes. \u201cIt prolongs and compounds the suffering of survivors.\u201d<\/p>\n

This DOJ has been deep in Epstein-related controversy for a minute. We\u2019ve been covering Blanche\u2019s role in the Epstein files since he flew to prison to personally interview Ghislaine Maxwell<\/a> \u2014 meetings that occurred the week after reports emerged that Maxwell had assembled a birthday book for Epstein containing a personal note from Trump, after which Maxwell spoke favorably of the president and was subsequently transferred to a minimum-security facility<\/a> (Senator Whitehouse has been trying to get answers about that transfer for over a year.) Blanche was sued over the broader Epstein files cover-up<\/a> earlier this year. And his confirmation hearing featured him roaring \u201cThat\u2019s not true!\u201d<\/a> when Senator Durbin pointed out that Congress had to pass the Epstein Transparency Act because the DOJ wouldn\u2019t hand over documents voluntarily.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Epstein Files Transparency Act does not require, and the protective orders in place in the Southern District of New York do not permit, disclosure of victim-identifying information carte blanche, and New Mexico has provided no lawful basis to justify such sweeping disclosures,\u201d a Justice Department spokesperson said<\/a>. \u201cProtecting victim privacy remains a top priority for the department, and neither\u00a0Touhy<\/em>\u00a0requests nor a desire to cooperate outweighs that privacy. DOJ remains available to assist New Mexico\u2019s investigation consistent with the law and binding court orders.\u201d<\/p>\n

Blanche spent his confirmation hearing insisting DOJ\u2019s handling of the Epstein files was above board. New Mexico just filed 40 pages saying otherwise, and named him personally in the suit. Will any of this matter to the senators getting ready to vote on Blanche\u2019s nomination? Probably not <\/a>\u2014 and history will judge them accordingly.<\/p>\n

Read the full complaint below.<\/p>\n

Earlier:<\/strong> Todd Blanche\u2019s Top Priority Appears To Be Keeping Key Epstein Files From Seeing Light Of Day<\/a>
Senator Whitehouse Is Still Waiting For Todd Blanche To Explain The Ghislaine Maxwell Prison Transfer<\/a>
Todd Blanche Sued Over Epstein Files Cover Up<\/a>
Paging Dr. Freud: Todd Blanche Calls Himself Trump\u2019s Lawyer At His Attorney General Confirmation Hearing<\/a>
Todd Blanche\u2019s Confirmation Vote Gets Postponed Because He Just Won\u2019t Put His Promises In Writin<\/a><\/p>\n

New-Mexico-sues-DOJ-Epstein-Zorro-Ranch-probe<\/a>Download<\/a><\/div>\n
\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, host of\u00a0The Jabot podcast<\/a>, and co-host of\u00a0Thinking Like A Lawyer<\/a>. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email\u00a0her<\/a>\u00a0with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter\u00a0@Kathryn1<\/a>\u00a0or Bluesky\u00a0@Kathryn1<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The post The DOJ Has Betrayed Epstein Survivors \u2014 New Mexico Is Suing Over The Latest Issue<\/a> appeared first on Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t(Photo by Nathan Posner\/Anadolu via Getty Images)\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

New Mexico Attorney General Ra\u00fal Torrez filed a federal lawsuit<\/a> Wednesday against Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and the U.S. Department of Justice, demanding access to unredacted Epstein investigative files that the DOJ has been withholding, files New Mexico says are critical to its ongoing criminal investigation into crimes committed at Jeffrey Epstein\u2019s Zorro Ranch outside Santa Fe.<\/p>\n

In 2019, federal prosecutors asked New Mexico to pause its state investigation into Epstein-related crimes at Zorro Ranch, promising they would share relevant information when their own investigation concluded. New Mexico agreed, and stood down. According to the complaint, they gave up timely access to witnesses, victims, and other evidence in good faith. \u201cNew Mexico had no reason to believe federal law enforcement would break their promise,\u201d Torrez writes in the complaint, \u201cand deviate from historical practice just to block their state counterparts from successfully investigating child sexual abuse under state law.\u201d<\/p>\n

But, the complaint alleges, the information was never shared. <\/p>\n

New Mexico reopened its investigation in February 2026, conducted the first-ever law enforcement search of Zorro Ranch<\/a> on March 9, and sent a letter to then-Attorney General Pam Bondi on March 13 requesting unredacted copies of five specific documents and general access to Zorro Ranch-related materials. A response was requested by March 27. None came. On April 1, an Associate Deputy AG said DOJ was willing to cooperate and told New Mexico to submit formal request under its Touhy<\/em> regulations. The state did so on May 3, and more than 100 days later, they have received no substantive response.<\/p>\n

So, that\u2019s how we get this lawsuit. <\/p>\n

The complaint is worth reading in full for its indictment of DOJ\u2019s conduct, not just in this investigation, but across the entire history of Epstein-related federal action. Torrez argues the DOJ has \u201cbetrayed survivors and the public related to Jeffrey Epstein and his co-conspirators at least three times.\u201d First, the secret non-prosecution agreement with Epstein in 2007 that was negotiated without consulting survivors; second, the public release of Epstein files that was required by the bipartisan Epstein Transparency Act, which had piss poor redactions that revealed personal information of the survivors; and third, the current stonewalling of New Mexico\u2019s state criminal investigation. \u201cFederal inaction does not merely stall the investigation,\u201d the complaint notes. \u201cIt prolongs and compounds the suffering of survivors.\u201d<\/p>\n

This DOJ has been deep in Epstein-related controversy for a minute. We\u2019ve been covering Blanche\u2019s role in the Epstein files since he flew to prison to personally interview Ghislaine Maxwell<\/a> \u2014 meetings that occurred the week after reports emerged that Maxwell had assembled a birthday book for Epstein containing a personal note from Trump, after which Maxwell spoke favorably of the president and was subsequently transferred to a minimum-security facility<\/a> (Senator Whitehouse has been trying to get answers about that transfer for over a year.) Blanche was sued over the broader Epstein files cover-up<\/a> earlier this year. And his confirmation hearing featured him roaring \u201cThat\u2019s not true!\u201d<\/a> when Senator Durbin pointed out that Congress had to pass the Epstein Transparency Act because the DOJ wouldn\u2019t hand over documents voluntarily.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Epstein Files Transparency Act does not require, and the protective orders in place in the Southern District of New York do not permit, disclosure of victim-identifying information carte blanche, and New Mexico has provided no lawful basis to justify such sweeping disclosures,\u201d a Justice Department spokesperson said<\/a>. \u201cProtecting victim privacy remains a top priority for the department, and neither\u00a0Touhy<\/em>\u00a0requests nor a desire to cooperate outweighs that privacy. DOJ remains available to assist New Mexico\u2019s investigation consistent with the law and binding court orders.\u201d<\/p>\n

Blanche spent his confirmation hearing insisting DOJ\u2019s handling of the Epstein files was above board. New Mexico just filed 40 pages saying otherwise, and named him personally in the suit. Will any of this matter to the senators getting ready to vote on Blanche\u2019s nomination? Probably not <\/a>\u2014 and history will judge them accordingly.<\/p>\n

Read the full complaint below.<\/p>\n

Earlier:<\/strong> Todd Blanche\u2019s Top Priority Appears To Be Keeping Key Epstein Files From Seeing Light Of Day<\/a>
Senator Whitehouse Is Still Waiting For Todd Blanche To Explain The Ghislaine Maxwell Prison Transfer<\/a>
Todd Blanche Sued Over Epstein Files Cover Up<\/a>
Paging Dr. Freud: Todd Blanche Calls Himself Trump\u2019s Lawyer At His Attorney General Confirmation Hearing<\/a>
Todd Blanche\u2019s Confirmation Vote Gets Postponed Because He Just Won\u2019t Put His Promises In Writin<\/a><\/p>\n

New-Mexico-sues-DOJ-Epstein-Zorro-Ranch-probe<\/a>Download<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

\"\"Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, host of\u00a0The Jabot podcast<\/a>, and co-host of\u00a0Thinking Like A Lawyer<\/a>. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email\u00a0her<\/a>\u00a0with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter\u00a0@Kathryn1<\/a>\u00a0or Bluesky\u00a0@Kathryn1<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

New Mexico Attorney General Ra\u00fal Torrez filed a federal lawsuit Wednesday against Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and the U.S. Department of Justice, demanding access to unredacted Epstein investigative files that the DOJ has been withholding, files New Mexico says are critical to its ongoing criminal investigation into crimes committed at Jeffrey Epstein\u2019s Zorro Ranch […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":159692,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-159691","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-above_the_law"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/xira.com\/p\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/IMG_5243-1-scaled-e1623338814705-620x568-DIOT0E.jpg?fit=620%2C568&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159691","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=159691"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159691\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/159692"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=159691"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=159691"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=159691"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}