The New Mexico Survivors Truth Commission released their first interim report on their investigation into Jeffery Epstein's Zorro Ranch and discussed their frustration with the federal government.
The Truth Commission released a 119-page report that goes over their findings after issuing 20 subpoenas and pouring over three million records released by the federal government after the Epstein Files Transparency Act was passed earlier this year.
While the report did not provide much in terms of new information about Epstein, it did highlight institutional shortcomings and hurdles the committee has faced getting information from the federal government.
The report details observations about Epstein's operations including that they were done openly, so those in his circle would almost certainly know about it, and that Epstein maintained influence in the state even after his sex offender status.
Representative Marianna Anaya also called out actions taken by law enforcement in the state that led to other entities conducting an investigation leading to issues getting those documents today.
“Those in law enforcement most responsible for protecting New Mexicans played a passive role. They let Miami and New York do it. The conduct of Epstein and his coconspirators in New Mexico went unexamined and unpunished,” Anaya said.
However, one of the most prominent issues discussed was the lack of transparency at the federal level. According to the report, seven subpoenas were refused or ignored including subpoenas to the Federal Aviation Administration and The U.S. Attorneys Office in the Southern District of New York.
On top of that, the report says that only 3.5 million records of the 6 million records identified by the DOJ were released under the Epstein Files Transparency Act. Even with the files that were released, committee chair representative Andrea Romero said they were difficult to look through.
“Nothing in the Epstein Files Transparency Act is in chronological order, the documents are heavily redacted and inconsistent with names blacked out on one page and printed on the next. Verifying a single fact in the record is basically finding a needle in a haystack,” Romero said.
The Truth Commission was not alone in their frustration with the federal government.
The New Mexico Department of Justice also announced on the same day of the meeting that they have filed a lawsuit against the United States Department of Justice alleging that the feds have not allowed NMDOJ to have unredacted access to all of the Epstein files.
During the announcement, New Mexico Attorney General Raul Torrez said that it has been 173 days since they asked for that access to assist their investigation into Epstein's operations.
“We have heard repeatedly that they are going to cooperate and what our team has experienced is everything but cooperation. What we have received in terms of what they believe is compliant with our request is 31 pages from the local U.S. Attorney's Office that included virtually nothing of relevance or importance to the investigation and this despite the fact that Zorro Ranch is referenced over 13,000 times in the Epstein files,” Torrez said.
Torrez continued by saying that he hopes this lawsuit will force the DOJ to provide them with access to the files to speed up the investigation to help bring a criminal case against anyone involved in Epstein's operations, if possible.
In response to these allegations, The United States Department of Justice said in an email response to KRWG that “The 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,” but they remain “available to assist New Mexico's investigation consistent with the law and binding court orders.”
