Jeffrey Epstein’s Zorro ranch in New Mexico was mentioned more than 13,000 times in the Epstein files. But acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and Jay Clayton, US attorney for the Southern District of New York, each of whom is a nominee for permanent Trump cabinet positions, have only turned over 31 pages of non-useful information. They are stonewalling the rest of it.
NM Attorney General Raúl Torrez told MS Now on Thursday night why his office is on the verge of suing the DOJ for its failure to cooperate. As Torrez explained, New Mexico “stood down” its 2019 state investigation into Epstein crimes at the request of the Southern District of New York. The SDNY had agreed to refer back to NM any state-related matters once its case concluded.
Clayton claims to be withholding Zorro Ranch documents out of some sort of concern for privacy and protection orders.
Torrez is calling BS.
“I'm a former federal prosecutor myself,” Torrez said. “We used to work routinely with state law enforcement, sharing information, identifying leads, possible suspects, identifying witnesses. We usually have pretty collaborative relationships when it comes to this kind of information sharing, especially, as in this case, when the state has already initiated its own criminal investigation.”
Host Jen Psaki played a clip of Clayton testifying during his July 15 confirmation hearing, “My folks, I think, as we speak, are seeking dialog with the [NM] attorney general to see if we can reach an accommodation that is consistent with those protective orders.”
“No, we haven't had any further communication with the Southern District of New York,” Torrez said Thursday night. He added that his office had proposed jointly moving to have the protective orders modified or lifted so that his team could get access. He described it as a common and standard practice when state and federal prosecutors are working on an investigation “even if there’s a protective order in place.”
“The simple fact is, either he or, more importantly, Todd Blanche could simply choose to cooperate, move for modifications of protective orders and give us the access to these files,” Torrez continued, “because, as you mentioned, Zorro Ranch is referenced over 13,000 times in the Epstein files, and yet most of those references are obscured, either partially or wholly, because of redactions that they've imposed.”
“Todd Blanche has the authority right now, with the stroke of a pen, to grant us this access, to let us, our investigators and prosecutors come and take a look at the files, identify coconspirators, witnesses, corroborating evidence, identify new potential leads,” Torrez added. “Every day that goes by that that doesn't happen is another day that we've delayed delivering justice for the survivors in this case.” As I wrote last week, Blanche had also falsely claimed in his confirmation hearing that his department was “continuing to work with” NM’s investigation.
You have to wonder: what is Trump’s personal lawyer acting attorney general so afraid Torrez’s office could find out?
