New Mexico’s attorney general is taking Donald Trump’s Justice Department to court, accusing it of blocking access to key Jeffrey Epstein records that state investigators say are essential to uncovering what happened at Epstein’s infamous Zorro Ranch.
Attorney General Raúl Torrez filed a federal lawsuit Wednesday seeking “complete and unredacted access” to Justice Department files tied to Epstein, alleging the Trump administration has repeatedly refused to hand over documents needed for New Mexico’s ongoing criminal investigation into alleged crimes committed at the sprawling Santa Fe County property.
According to The Independent, Torrez’s office has asked the Justice Department at least 10 times for access to the records. The requests, he says, have been met with delays, silence, and outright stonewalling.
“New Mexico has a duty to protect survivors and investigate crimes committed in our state so that perpetrators can be held accountable,” Torrez said in a statement.
“We asked the Department of Justice to cooperate by providing access to records that may be critical to identifying victims, witnesses, and additional criminal conduct at Zorro Ranch. Their delay is actively hurting our criminal investigation and delaying justice Epstein survivors deserve.”
The ranch sits at the center of New Mexico’s investigation. The property reportedly appears more than 13,000 times in federal Epstein files and has long been linked to allegations that Epstein and his longtime associate, Ghislaine Maxwell, sexually abused girls and young women there over many years.
Several survivors, including Virginia Giuffre and Annie Farmer, have publicly described abuse connected to the ranch.
Torrez launched the investigation earlier this year after the Trump administration released millions of Epstein-related documents. But while many records became public, New Mexico says the unredacted files investigators actually need remain locked away inside Trump’s Justice Department.
The lawsuit argues that the administration’s refusal to release those records is undermining the state’s ability to identify witnesses, corroborate evidence, and determine whether additional crimes were committed at the property.
It also delivers a blistering rebuke of Justice Department leadership.
The complaint accuses Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and other DOJ officials of “stonewalling” the investigation and argues their actions are “actively harming victims and undermining the public interest.”
Federal authorities previously investigated Epstein’s activities in New Mexico, but that case ended in 2020 without charges. Epstein died in a Manhattan jail in 2019 while awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges. His death was ruled a suicide.
Meanwhile, New Mexico lawmakers aren’t waiting on Washington.
The state has created a special legislative committee with subpoena power to investigate allegations connected to Zorro Ranch, with lawmakers saying residents deserve a full accounting of what happened on the property and who may have enabled it.
“New Mexico residents deserve to know the truth about what went on at the Zorro Ranch and who knew about it,” Democratic state Rep. Andrea Romero said when the committee was established.
For Torrez, the message behind the lawsuit is straightforward: if Trump’s Justice Department won’t voluntarily cooperate, New Mexico will try to force it to.
The legal battle now sets up a direct confrontation between state investigators seeking answers and a Justice Department accused of standing in the way.
