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New Mexico And The Epstein Related Lawsuit Filed Against The DOJ (Part 4) (10/17/26) · The Vault: The Epstein Files

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  Speaker 1: What's up, everyone, and welcome to another episode of the
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  Speaker 1: Epstein Chronicles. In this episode, we're going to dive right
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  Speaker 1: back in to the lawsuit filed by New Mexico against
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  Speaker 1: the DOJ. DNM's letter stated three primary objections to the
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  Speaker 1: two-year request, that the request was overbroad and unduly burdensome,
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  Speaker 1: that it violated the Privacy Act, that it violated protective
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  Speaker 1: orders entered in the Epstein and Maxwell cases. On July 14th, 2026,
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  Speaker 1: Sean Buckley reported the Deputy United States Attorney for SDNY
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  Speaker 1: called Mr. Sullivan, informing him that SDNY would not provide
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  Speaker 1: any material in response to NMDOJ's TUI request. Mr. Buckley
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  Speaker 1: represented that USDOJ would not produce unredacted records to NMDOJ
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  Speaker 1: for two reasons. First, disclosing records necessary for the NMDOJ's
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  Speaker 1: criminal investigation would purportedly violate the privacy and confidentiality to
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  Speaker 1: the afforded to the victims of abuse by Epstein and Maxwell,
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  Speaker 1: and second, releasing unredacted records would violate the protective orders
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  Speaker 1: entered in Epstein and Maxwell's prosecutions by the District Court
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  Speaker 1: in the Southern District of New York. Mr. Sullivan asked
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  Speaker 1: whether USDOJ would be willing to cooperate with NMDOJ in
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  Speaker 1: seeking a modification of applicable protective orders to make express
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  Speaker 1: that the orders permit disclosure for law enforcement purposes. and Mr.
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  Speaker 1: Buckley responded that such cooperation was unlikely. Mr. Buckley qualified
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  Speaker 1: this position by noting that he would need to review
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  Speaker 1: any formal proposal, but identified no path through which, with,
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  Speaker 1: an MDOJ could work with USDOJ on these matters. Mr. Buckley,
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  Speaker 1: in a subsequent email on July 31, 2026, reiterated his
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  Speaker 1: view that EFTA and the existing protective orders precluded production
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  Speaker 1: of material in response to to NMDOJ's request without any
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  Speaker 1: offer to seek any modification of those protective orders or
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  Speaker 1: otherwise provide NMDOJ the documents and evidence it requested. SDNY, therefore,
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  Speaker 1: also denied NMDOJ's TUI request. Neither Acting Attorney General Blanche,
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  Speaker 1: Deputy Assistant Attorney General Pastana, nor any other U.S. DOJ
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  Speaker 1: official have provided any further response to NMDOJ. That has
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  Speaker 1: remained true despite Acting Attorney General Blanche's statement before Congress
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  Speaker 1: that USDOJ was purportedly continuing to work with NMDOJ and
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  Speaker 1: has expressed assurances that USDOJ would cooperate and help NMDOJ
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  Speaker 1: get the information it needs. USDOJ, therefore, also has denied
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  Speaker 1: NMDOJ's TUI request in its entirety. To date, victims of
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  Speaker 1: Epstein and his associates who were trafficked and abused in
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  Speaker 1: New Mexico have legal background. Under the United States Constitution
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  Speaker 1: system of federalism, the states retain primary sovereign authority to
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  Speaker 1: define and enforce criminal law. The authority to investigate and
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  Speaker 1: prosecute criminal offenses lies at the core of those sovereign
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  Speaker 1: police power. The Supreme Court has recognized that the United
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  Speaker 1: States powers, or the state's powers, to undertake criminal prosecution
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  Speaker 1: does not derive from the federal government, but from the
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  Speaker 1: authority originally belonging to the states before admission to the
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  Speaker 1: Union of and preserved to them by the Tenth Amendment.
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  Speaker 1: There is no better example of the police power, which
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  Speaker 1: the Founders denied the national government and reposed in the states,
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  Speaker 1: than the suppression of violent crime and vindication of its victims. U.S. v. Morrison, 529-2000. Moreover,
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  Speaker 1: under the dual sovereignty doctrine, the states retain their sovereign
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  Speaker 1: authority to prosecute crimes within their territories, even following prosecution
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  Speaker 1: by the federal government for the same crimes. See Gamble v. U.S., 2019.
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  Speaker 1: We have long held that a crime under one sovereign
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  Speaker 1: law is not the same offense as a crime under
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  Speaker 1: the laws of another sovereign. Under this dual sovereignty doctrine,
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  Speaker 1: a state may prosecute a defendant under state law, even
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  Speaker 1: if the federal government has prosecuted him for the same
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  Speaker 1: conduct under a federal statute. New Mexico possesses both the
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  Speaker 1: authority and the duty to investigate potential crimes committed within
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  Speaker 1: its jurisdiction in and to gather evidence necessary to enforce
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  Speaker 1: its laws. Many of the crimes New Mexico is investigating
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  Speaker 1: in connection with Epstein and his associates' conduct, including allegations
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  Speaker 1: of criminal sexual penetration and criminal sexual contact, lack generally
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  Speaker 1: applicable analogs in federal law. So New Mexico is the
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  Speaker 1: only jurisdiction capable of investigating and prosecuting these potential crimes.
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  Speaker 1: Consistent with long-standing principles of federalism, cooperation, and evidence-sharing between
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  Speaker 1: federal and state law enforcement authorities, has long been a
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  Speaker 1: routine and essential feature of criminal investigations. New Mexico has
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  Speaker 1: been no exception to this historical practice of state-federal cooperation
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  Speaker 1: in law enforcement, and the practice has resulted in successful
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  Speaker 1: criminal investigations and prosecutions of a range of serious crimes,
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  Speaker 1: including ones related to human trafficking, human smuggling, and sexual
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  Speaker 1: abuse of minors. Recent examples in New Mexico include a.
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  Speaker 1: A joint investigation into transnational human smuggling operation resulting in
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  Speaker 1: the federal indictment of two alleged perpetrators. b. A joint
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  Speaker 1: investigation into the sextortion and sexual exploitation of two girls
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  Speaker 1: ages 12 and 15 resulting in a federal sentence of
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  Speaker 1: more than 19 years on two counts of using a
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  Speaker 1: facility of interstate commerce to coerce and entice minors. c.
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  Speaker 1: An investigation under the Project Safe Childhood Initiative facilitating NMDOJ's
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  Speaker 1: successful investigation and prosecution of former Gallup firefighter for possession
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  Speaker 1: of CSAM involving children under the age of 13. An
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  Speaker 1: investigation with FBI participation into sexual assaults of inmates at
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  Speaker 1: Central New Mexico Correctional Facility, a state prison, committed by
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  Speaker 1: a prison guard. The case was prosecuted in state court.
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  Speaker 1: Consistent referrals state to federal and federal to state in
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  Speaker 1: cases involving sexual abuse of people in custody have resulted
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  Speaker 1: in convictions tailored to the criminal statutes that best fit
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  Speaker 1: the conduct at issue and supporting evidence. The practice of
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  Speaker 1: state-federal cooperation has long included sharing non-public investigative material to
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  Speaker 1: facilitate successful law enforcement consistent with our federalist system. After
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  Speaker 1: providing specific assurances that the U.S. DOJ's Epstein investigation would
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  Speaker 1: follow the same cooperative practice, while inducing NMDOJ to cease
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  Speaker 1: its investigation in 2019, U.S. DOJ is now reneging on
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  Speaker 1: both historical practice and its promised cooperation. U.S. DOJ's Two
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  Speaker 1: Irregulations Federal regulations governing requests for testimony or documents for
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  Speaker 1: use in litigation or investigations in which the federal agency
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  Speaker 1: is not a party are commonly known as TUI regulations.
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  Speaker 1: After the Supreme Court decision in U.S. TUI v. Reagan,
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  Speaker 1: 340 U.S. 462, 1951, TUI recognized the general validity of
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  Speaker 1: such regulation promulgated under authority derived from the Federal Housekeeping Act, U.S.
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  Speaker 1: Code 5, Section 301. The Federal Housekeeping Act directs federal
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  Speaker 1: agents to establish procedures governing how requests for testimony or
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  Speaker 1: records are to be handled internally. It expressly states that
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  Speaker 1: the statute does not grant federal agencies authority to withhold information.
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  Speaker 1: See U.S. Code 5, Section 301. This section does not
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  Speaker 1: authorize withholding information from the public or limiting the availability
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  Speaker 1: of records to the public. State law enforcement agencies frequently
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  Speaker 1: require testimony and records from federal agencies in connection with
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  Speaker 1: state law criminal investigations. U.S. DOJ Regulation, Outline 2 Pass
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  Speaker 1: for State Law Enforcement, to request and receive such records,
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  Speaker 1: make an informal request to the agency, or submit a
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  Speaker 1: formal TUI request. USDOJ TUI regulations expressly provide that voluntary
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  Speaker 1: disclosure of information to state and local law enforcement and
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  Speaker 1: prosecutorial agencies is permitted, without the need for any formal demand.
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  Speaker 1: Nothing in this subpart is intended to impede the appropriate
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  Speaker 1: disclosure in the absence of a demand of information by
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  Speaker 1: department law enforcement agencies to federal, state, local, and foreign
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  Speaker 1: law enforcement, prosecutive, or regulatory agencies. USDOJ's policy also expressly
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  Speaker 1: favors cooperation in state and federal cases in which information
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  Speaker 1: obtained by the department is sought. Authorization in one form
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  Speaker 1: or another is usually granted. U.S. Department of Justice Justice
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  Speaker 1: Manual Section 1-6.240 USDOJ's TUI regulations set forth a specific
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  Speaker 1: procedure USDOJ must follow when the agency receives a formal
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  Speaker 1: TUI request, namely that the decision-maker will authorize disclosure unless
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  Speaker 1: disclosure would violate the law or procedural rule or adversely
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  Speaker 1: affect law enforcement activities or governmental interests. The regulations go
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  Speaker 1: on to explicitly permit USDOJ to disclose investigatory records compiled
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  Speaker 1: for law enforcement purposes. even in circumstances where disclosure would
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  Speaker 1: interfere with enforcement proceedings or disclose investigative techniques and procedures,
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  Speaker 1: the effectiveness of which would thereby be impaired. Disclosure is
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  Speaker 1: appropriate after considering, among other things, the seriousness of the
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  Speaker 1: violation or crime involved, the importance of the relief sought,
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  Speaker 1: the importance of the legal issues presented, and other matters
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  Speaker 1: brought to the attention of the Deputy or Associate Attorney General.
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  Speaker 1: 28 CFR Section 16.26c Alright, we're going to wrap up
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  Speaker 1: right here, and in the next episode, we're going to
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  Speaker 1: pick up with the causes of action. All the information
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  Speaker 1: that goes with this episode can be found in the
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  Speaker 1: description box.