Staff Reports
WASHINGTON D.C. – New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez voiced support for the Epstein Files Transparency Act II, in a July 16 statement.
The bill gives state attorneys general, district attorneys, and survivors the right to sue the U.S. Department of Justice for withholding or redacting records, bars the department from invoking privilege to justify withholding files, and creates criminal penalties for federal officials who conceal, destroy, or falsify records covered by the Act.
New Mexico has pursued records related to Jeffrey Epstein’s Zorro Ranch property for months. The U.S. DOJ hasn’t fully responded to the state’s records requests, leaving New Mexico’s investigation without access to files that bear directly on whether New Mexico laws were broken.
«Survivors have waited too long for answers, and my office has waited too long for the federal government to turn over the unredacted records we need to complete our criminal investigation,» Torrez said. «This legislation gives state law enforcement the access this investigation requires, and it gives survivors control over their own records. Every day of delay is another day survivors are denied the justice they are owed.»
Torrez and Rep. Teresa Leger Fernández, D-N.M., are leading the fight to hold the DOJ accountable for failing to comply with the bipartisan Epstein Files Transparency Act. Torrez said the enforcement gap this bill closes exists because the DOJ has chosen delay and obstruction over compliance with the law as written.
«The DOJ has had every opportunity to follow the law and has instead chosen stonewalling,» he said. «This bill takes that choice away. Survivors deserve a process that works regardless of whether the DOJ decides to cooperate.»
The Epstein Files Transparency Act II:
Creates a private right of action allowing State Attorneys General, district attorneys, other authorized State officials, and victims to sue the U.S. Attorney General for unlawfully withholding, redacting, delaying, concealing, removing, or failing to publish Epstein-related records.
Gives victims the right to obtain full, unredacted records concerning themselves or the harm they suffered, including relevant FBI FD-302 reports.
Enforces compliance with the existing law by subjecting DOJ and FBI officials to existing federal criminal penalties for knowingly concealing, destroying, falsifying, withholding, or misrepresenting files.
Requires the DOJ to provide State and local prosecutors with unredacted records needed for investigations, prosecutions, and judicial proceedings, including secure access to classified materials.
Explicitly prohibits the invocation of common law privileges, including deliberative process privileges, to evade disclosure requirements included in the original EFTA.
