Justice Department under scrutiny after missing deadline for key Epstein ranch files

The US Department of Justice (DOJ) appears to have ignored a Friday deadline set by the attorney general of New Mexico, Raul Torrez to share information regarding the exploitation of girls at a remote ranch previously owned by the notorious banker and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

A deadline of July 31 was set for the department to share relevant records, but the justice department did not respond to the request. Torrez’s office requested unmasked records from the DOJ upon re-examination in February, after he reopened a cold case investigation into activities at Zorro Ranch-a remote 10,000-acre property in the desert scrub outside New Mexico.

Torrez has primarily established a due date for federal prosecutors from the justice department and the US attorney’s office for the southern district of New York, leading to the Epstein investigation to allow access to whatever documents they had.

As reported by the Guardian, the US attorney’s office for the district of New Mexico stated in a statement: “It had substantially responded to Torrez’s request on 30 June by emailing the 31 documents.

But Clayton, in his confirmation hearing in the US Senate last month said to Martin Heinrich, Democratic senator for New Mexico: “My folks, I think as we speak, are seeking dialogue with the attorney general to see if we can reach an accommodation”.

The official statement reads: “The New Mexico US attorney’s office did not lead or handle the Zorro Ranch investigation and therefore neither collected nor retained any investigative materials.”

As of Friday, Torrez had not responded to any requests for comment having previously blamed the Briefing with Jen Psaki on July 23 that he was blocked from accomplishing his goal by Blanche.

Furthermore, Torres asserted that we comply with that investigation at the explicit request of the Southern District of New York and having them fail to abide by the agreement and deny us access to this file is impeding our capacity to advance this criminal investigation.