New Mexico's top prosecutor says the Trump administration is running out the clock on justice for Jeffrey Epstein's victims.
Attorney General Raúl Torrez published a letter on 9 July 2026 accusing the US Department of Justice of stonewalling his state's criminal investigation into Epstein's Zorro Ranch. The letter, sent to acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and dated 30 June 2026, says more than 130 days have passed since New Mexico first requested unredacted records. The Justice Department disputes the characterisation, saying it stands ready to help.
A 130-Day Wait for Records
Torrez's letter states plainly that access to the requested records has not been granted, no substantive response has been provided, and more than 130 days have now elapsed since the NMDOJ's initial request. He calls that delay unreasonable under any rule of reason.
His office reopened the Zorro Ranch investigation in February 2026, after federal authorities released a batch of Epstein-related files. Some of those documents concerned the ranch, which Epstein owned in Santa Fe County from 1993 until his 2019 death, and where he is alleged to have hosted trafficking victims.
According to Torrez's letter, published in full by the New Mexico Department of Justice, heavily redacted open-source records already establish that multiple survivors were brought to Zorro Ranch on numerous occasions, where they were subjected to sexual abuse and exploitation. He says the unredacted versions in federal custody hold the names of survivors, witnesses, co-conspirators, and other individuals that New Mexico investigators need to build a case.
🚨 BREAKING: The Trump Administration is now obstructing a New Mexico investigation into sex trafficking at Epstein's private ranch. pic.twitter.com/vgrmebCoRe
— Discourse News (@Discourse__News) July 11, 2026
Why This Investigation Was Shelved Once Before
New Mexico's probe is not new. Then-Attorney General Hector Balderas attempted to investigate Zorro Ranch in 2019, only for federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York to ask the state to stand down while they pursued their own case against Epstein.
Epstein died in federal custody weeks later, and the case against him was never completed. Torrez's letter argues that the outcome left New Mexico's survivors without accountability, stating that the investigation was effectively suspended by federal request in 2019, its file was released to federal authorities, and its survivors were left without an accounting of what occurred in New Mexico.
He warns the current delay is compounding that original harm. Every day that the USDOJ withholds these records, the foundation upon which a New Mexico prosecution could be built erodes, Torrez wrote, adding that witnesses relocate and become unreachable and physical and documentary evidence degrades, is lost, or is rendered more difficult to authenticate with the passage of time.
The stakes were sharpened by a 2019 FBI tip described in the released Epstein files, in which an informant offered a conservative talk-show host what he described as video evidence of abuse and the location of remains believed buried on the property, for the price of one bitcoin.
Why would you do this if you’re not guilty? https://t.co/YpnRzUSWwY
— Harry Sisson (@harryjsisson) July 12, 2026
The Justice Department's Response
The USDOJ disputes Torrez's account. A department spokesperson told CNN the agency substantively responded last month to requests from the New Mexico Attorney General's Office, adding that the department welcomes New Mexico undertaking additional investigation of the Zorro Ranch and stands ready to provide necessary assistance with New Mexico's investigation. The spokesperson said that should that investigation uncover potential federal crimes, the DOJ will work closely with our law enforcement partners to investigate and, as appropriate, prosecute.
Torrez's letter documents six separate outreach attempts to federal officials, including a formal records request filed on 13 February and an effort to arrange an in-person meeting during a visit to Washington, according to CNN's review of the correspondence. Democratic Congressman Jamie Raskin, ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, has separately complained that lawmakers permitted to view unredacted files were made to do so on department-owned computers inside a DOJ annex while staff looked on.
The dispute unfolds against the backdrop of the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which Trump signed after initially opposing the release of the files, and which required the department to publish its Epstein records within 30 days with minimal redaction. Legislators have since questioned whether the department fully complied, given that the bulk of the files were not published until late January, and many arrived heavily redacted.
Torrez's letter states his office will treat the records request as denied if it goes unanswered by the end of July, raising the prospect of a state court subpoena. Whether the records arrive on time or not, New Mexico says the survivors of Zorro Ranch cannot afford to wait much longer.
