Trump DOJ Accused of Stonewalling Epstein Zorro Ranch Investigation as New Mexico Demands Answers
For nearly six years, one of Jeffrey Epstein’s most mysterious properties has remained largely absent from the national conversation. While investigations centered on his homes in New York, Florida, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, the sprawling 10,000 acre Zorro Ranch in northern New Mexico, where numerous victims allege Epstein abused girls and entertained powerful associates, has remained the focus of only one active criminal investigation.
Now, that investigation has become the center of an explosive standoff between New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez and President Donald Trump’s Department of Justice. In a blistering public letter released this week, Torrez accused Acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche and senior Justice Department officials of repeatedly stonewalling his office by refusing to release unredacted federal investigative files that New Mexico says are essential to continuing its criminal investigation into crimes allegedly committed at Zorro Ranch.
The dispute has escalated into one of the most significant transparency battles surrounding the Epstein case since the release of the Epstein Files, raising fresh questions about why federal officials continue to withhold evidence from the only state actively investigating Epstein’s operations.
A Five Month Timeline of Delays
According to documents released by the New Mexico Department of Justice, the conflict did not arise overnight. Instead, state officials describe a months long pattern of unanswered letters, missed deadlines, broken promises, and administrative roadblocks.
The paper trail began on February 13, 2026, when Attorney General Torrez formally requested specific documents released under the Epstein Files Transparency Act, along with all investigative materials relating to Zorro Ranch. The request went unanswered. One month later, on March 13, Torrez escalated the matter directly to U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, requesting five heavily redacted investigative files be released in their complete, unredacted form. Again, according to New Mexico, no meaningful response arrived.
Federal officials finally acknowledged the requests during an April telephone conversation when Associate Deputy Attorney General Diego Pestana assured New Mexico prosecutors the Department of Justice intended to cooperate. Instead of releasing records, however, DOJ instructed the state to submit a formal Touhy request, the federal process governing disclosure of agency records and testimony. New Mexico complied.
On May 3, prosecutors submitted the requested Touhy letter to First Assistant U.S. Attorney Ryan Ellison and FBI Special Agent in Charge Justin Garriss in Albuquerque, requesting a response by May 11. That deadline passed without the release of a single requested document. Weeks later, after additional silence, New Mexico again contacted Todd Blanche’s office seeking compliance. When Torrez traveled to Washington in early June, hoping to resolve the issue face-to-face, federal officials declined to schedule a meeting. By July, frustration had boiled over.
In a sharply worded public letter, Torrez accused the Department of Justice of engaging in more than 130 days of unnecessary delay, calling the government’s conduct “unreasonable under any rule of reason” and demanding full compliance by July 31.
The Documents New Mexico Says It Needs
At the heart of the dispute are heavily redacted investigative files that New Mexico believes contain critical information about alleged crimes committed within state borders. According to Torrez, those records could identify additional victims, witnesses, travel records, property activity, and investigative leads connected specifically to Epstein’s New Mexico ranch. Without those records, prosecutors argue they cannot effectively pursue potential criminal charges under New Mexico law.
Unlike many civil lawsuits involving Epstein’s estate, New Mexico’s investigation remains an active criminal probe, meaning prosecutors continue evaluating whether additional offenses may still be prosecutable. Every month of delay, investigators argue, makes that task significantly harder. Witnesses relocate. Memories fade. Evidence deteriorates. Potential victims become increasingly difficult to locate.
The Broken Promise Dating Back to 2019
The conflict has become especially contentious because New Mexico argues the federal government is now withholding investigative material that originally came from the state itself. Following Jeffrey Epstein’s arrest in July 2019, New Mexico launched its own independent criminal investigation into activities at Zorro Ranch. State investigators interviewed witnesses, gathered victim statements, examined Epstein’s use of public lands, and began developing their own evidence regarding potential crimes committed inside New Mexico. Then federal prosecutors stepped in.
According to New Mexico officials, prosecutors with the Southern District of New York asked the state to suspend its investigation so evidence could be consolidated into the federal prosecution being assembled against Epstein and his associates. Acting in good faith, New Mexico transferred its investigative files to federal authorities in September 2019. State officials say they were assured federal investigators would notify New Mexico if evidence emerged involving additional crimes committed within the state. That notification never came.
Now, nearly seven years later, New Mexico argues the Department of Justice is preventing prosecutors from accessing investigative files that include evidence originally gathered by New Mexico investigators themselves. For Torrez, the irony is impossible to ignore. The federal government first asked the state to stop investigating. Now, according to New Mexico, it is preventing the state from restarting that same investigation.
DOJ Says It Has Cooperated
The Department of Justice disputes New Mexico’s characterization of events. Federal officials have publicly stated they “substantively responded” to the state’s requests during June and continue to welcome additional investigations into Zorro Ranch. That explanation has done little to satisfy New Mexico prosecutors. Torrez publicly rejected the DOJ’s statement, saying his office has not received the unredacted investigative materials requested and that the federal government’s public claims simply do not match reality. The disagreement has become increasingly public, with both sides offering sharply different accounts of what information has, or has not, been shared.
Mounting Political Pressure
The dispute arrives as scrutiny surrounding the Epstein investigation continues to intensify across Washington. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche is expected to face questions before the Senate Judiciary Committee regarding the administration’s handling of Epstein records, while lawmakers continue demanding greater transparency surrounding remaining sealed investigative files. At the same time, New Mexico’s bipartisan Truth Commission continues issuing subpoenas to local, state, and federal agencies regarding individuals connected to Epstein’s activities inside the state. State and local agencies have produced hundreds of documents. Federal agencies have not. The commission’s interim findings are expected later this month.
Meanwhile, ongoing public records litigation continues forcing the Department of Justice to defend its decision to withhold or heavily redact portions of the Epstein files.
More Than a Records Dispute
While the disagreement may appear to revolve around document requests, its implications extend far beyond government bureaucracy. For New Mexico prosecutors, this is ultimately about whether one of America’s most notorious sex trafficking operations will ever receive a complete criminal investigation at the state level. For victims and survivors, every withheld file represents another unanswered question.
For critics of the Justice Department, the prolonged delays reinforce longstanding concerns that the full story surrounding Epstein’s network has never been publicly disclosed. And for the Trump administration, the confrontation threatens to become another politically charged chapter in an investigation that has repeatedly generated bipartisan demands for greater transparency. Whether the Department of Justice ultimately releases the requested files before New Mexico’s July 31 deadline remains uncertain.
What is increasingly clear is that the battle over Jeffrey Epstein’s Zorro Ranch is far from over, and the only active criminal investigation into the property may depend on whether the federal government decides to cooperate or continue withholding the evidence New Mexico says it desperately needs.
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