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Transcript

The First Findings From New Mexico’s Epstein Truth Commission (8/7/26) · The Epstein Chronicles

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: What's up everyone, and welcome to another episode of the
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Epstein Chronicles. A few months ago, we learned that down
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: in New Mexico they were putting together a quote unquote
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  Speaker 1: truth Commission that was going to be tasked with investigating
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  Speaker 1: Jeffrey Epstein and the crime surrounding his time in New Mexico. Well,
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: that commission has released its first report, So we're going
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  Speaker 1: to dive into an article from the Santa Fe New
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  Speaker 1: Mexican talking about the release of this initial report once again.
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  Speaker 1: This article was published by the Santa Fe New Mexican
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  Speaker 1: and the headline New Mexico's Legislative Truth Commission on Epstein
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  Speaker 1: release's initial report. This article was authored by Clara Bates.
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  Speaker 1: An initial report by a legislative commission on its month
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  Speaker 1: long investigation into Jeffrey Epstein is more of a summary
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  Speaker 1: of public record than a reveal of groundbreaking findings. It does, however,
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  Speaker 1: cast light on the dynamic between the Truth Commission and
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  Speaker 1: the New Mexican Department of Justice, which both are investigating
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  Speaker 1: Epstein's activities in the state where he owned a sprawling
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  Speaker 1: ranch in southern Santa Fe County for decades. Imagine investigating
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  Speaker 1: this late in the game and acting like you're some
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  Speaker 1: kind of hero. The Attorney General's office in New Mexico
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  Speaker 1: should be embarrassed. They knew this was going on. I
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  Speaker 1: contacted them personally before I went down to New Mexico.
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  Speaker 1: I never got a response. I had plenty of questions
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  Speaker 1: about ex law enforcement that I spoke with while I
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  Speaker 1: was down there. Who knew that something was going on
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  Speaker 1: at Zoro Ranch? Knew that something bad was going on there?
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  Speaker 1: And if they knew, do you really think that their
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  Speaker 1: superiors had no idea that just these regular old officers knew,
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  Speaker 1: but their bosses didn't. The people that worked in intelligence
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  Speaker 1: had no idea? All right? I guess The Truth Commission
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  Speaker 1: accuses the Justice Department of withholding key records, even as
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  Speaker 1: the state agency makes similar accusations against the federal govern
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  Speaker 1: A few hours before the bipartisan Truth Commission released its report,
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  Speaker 1: during a Wednesday hearing at the state capitol in Santa Fe,
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  Speaker 1: Attorney General Ronald Torres announced in a virtual news conference
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  Speaker 1: that he had filed a lawsuit against the US Department
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  Speaker 1: of Justice for what he says is a failure to
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  Speaker 1: turn over unredacted files on EPSTEIN that would aid in
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  Speaker 1: a criminal investigation. And look, there is no justification for
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  Speaker 1: those files not being turned over if they have to
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  Speaker 1: do with New Mexico and there's a criminal issue that's
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  Speaker 1: being dealt with in New Mexico, breaking news, the DOJ
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  Speaker 1: should be playing ball. But of course all they do
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  Speaker 1: is talk about transparency. They're not really about it. The
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  Speaker 1: New Mexico Justice Department only partially responded to the Truth
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  Speaker 1: Commission subpoena. The new report states many of the requested
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  Speaker 1: documents were deemed withheld as privileged or had the names
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  Speaker 1: of survivors and witnesses redacted. According to the report, ah well,
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  Speaker 1: doesn't that sound familiar? And if the DOJ can get
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  Speaker 1: away with it, then the state agencies they believe they
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  Speaker 1: can too, monkey see monkey do right. Oh well, the
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  Speaker 1: DOJ doesn't do the right thing, so why should we.
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  Speaker 1: Nobody's forced them to comply, So who's going to force
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  Speaker 1: us to comply? The DOJ, of course not. They're in
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  Speaker 1: on it. In fact, they're running it. So all these
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  Speaker 1: states they have a built in out right, Well, we're
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  Speaker 1: just following the lead of the DOJ. But that's not
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  Speaker 1: good enough. They owe the residents, the citizens of those
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  Speaker 1: states a robust and unhampered investigation because up until this
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  Speaker 1: point that has not happened. We have yet to receive
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  Speaker 1: the full information we subpoenaed for at the New Mexico
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  Speaker 1: Department of Justice, said Commissioner Chair Andrea Romero, a Democratic
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  Speaker 1: State House member from Santa Fe, at the Wednesday afternoon hearing.
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  Speaker 1: We're still waiting on documents that we believe they have
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  Speaker 1: access to that we have yet to receive. You're going
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  Speaker 1: to be waiting for a long time, unfortunately, because the
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  Speaker 1: DOJ once again has no desire to comply, and until
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  Speaker 1: they're forced to do so, you can expect more of
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  Speaker 1: the same. The Commission and the State Justice Department are
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  Speaker 1: currently engaged in negotiation with the aim of reaching an
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  Speaker 1: agreement to share information with one another as permitted by
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  Speaker 1: law and consistent with their independent authorities and purposes, the
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  Speaker 1: report states, adding the Commission has proposed that they share
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  Speaker 1: as much information as possible and coordinate that positions and interviews.
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  Speaker 1: That's how it should work. They should be walking hand
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  Speaker 1: in hand the Commission, the Department of Justice, and the
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  Speaker 1: local attorney General. There shouldn't be pushedback or roadblocks or
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  Speaker 1: any impediments to justice everybody should be on the same page, unless,
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  Speaker 1: of course, somebody or buddies have something to hide. Torres
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  Speaker 1: disputed the characterization on Wednesday, telling reporters his agency complied
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  Speaker 1: with the Truth Commission subpoena, but can't share a certain
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  Speaker 1: details with the Commission. So basically, he's doing to the
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  Speaker 1: Commission what he's alleging that the DOJ is doing to him.
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  Speaker 1: Does he not see the irony here? Does he not
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  Speaker 1: understand that he looks like a moron? And the sad
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  Speaker 1: truth is the vast majority of these politicians that have
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  Speaker 1: inserted themselves into the topic have no idea what they're
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  Speaker 1: talking about, zero idea. The State Justice Department's own probe
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  Speaker 1: is focused on determining whether there is still a viable
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  Speaker 1: criminal case to evaluate and prepare. Torres said, while the
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  Speaker 1: Truth Commission's investigation is much broader into institutional failures, information sharing,
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  Speaker 1: who knew what, when, how they acted on it, how
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  Speaker 1: they responded to it. So we have very different objectives
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  Speaker 1: and what that means is we go about our work
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  Speaker 1: in just a fundamentally different way. Well, yeah, but you
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  Speaker 1: guys should be communicating, You should be talking. There should
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: be a liaison between the offices. Right. If we really
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  Speaker 1: want to get to the bottom of what happened and
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  Speaker 1: we want to know the truth, then these agencies, he states,
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  Speaker 1: they have to work together. He added that the commission's
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  Speaker 1: work can be more transparent than the prosecutor's probe since
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  Speaker 1: his team can't discuss the measures that we take, the
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  Speaker 1: techniques that we use, the people that we talk to
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  Speaker 1: while working towards a possible indictment. The impasse between the
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  Speaker 1: Truth Commission and the New Mexico Department of Justice makes
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  Speaker 1: up just a few paragraphs of the report, prepared by
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  Speaker 1: an Albuquerque based legal team from the personal injury firm
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  Speaker 1: Fiduel Clough, Hardy and Conaway. The one hundred and nineteen
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  Speaker 1: page report leans heavily on US Department of Justice files
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  Speaker 1: and news stories to trace Epstein's background and history in
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  Speaker 1: the state, including several of the New Mexican's investigations. The
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  Speaker 1: report states that it's the result of months of review
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  Speaker 1: of epstein file, Transparency Act documents, material received in a
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  Speaker 1: response to subpoenas and other publicly available sources. Romero acknowledged
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  Speaker 1: most of the information had previously been made public, and
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  Speaker 1: we claim those scoop on this information. Well, it's not
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  Speaker 1: going to be some bombshell breaking news at least initially.
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  Speaker 1: There has to be a full on investigation, right and
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  Speaker 1: hopefully that's what this leads to. But she said, it's
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  Speaker 1: the first time any government has documented what is known
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  Speaker 1: about Epstein and what he did in our state, and
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  Speaker 1: is the first official account that exists outside of a courtroom.
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  Speaker 1: The commission has so far reviewed reports of five survivors,
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  Speaker 1: but has counted at least thirty other individuals who potentially
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  Speaker 1: were abused by Epstein in New Mexico. The report states, Look,
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  Speaker 1: I've heard from several people who have said they were abused,
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  Speaker 1: several people. Now, when I was down in New Mexico,
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  Speaker 1: when I was talking to the lady at the hotel,
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  Speaker 1: she was telling me about the big problem they have
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  Speaker 1: with human trafficking overall, and how a lot of girls
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  Speaker 1: from the reservations end up going missing. So I've always
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  Speaker 1: wondered if Jeffrey Epstein and his buddies were involved in
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  Speaker 1: any of that. Very possible, right, We know that Jean
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  Speaker 1: lu Brunel used to like to go to places like Brazil,
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  Speaker 1: Peru and fine girls. So you mean to tell me
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  Speaker 1: you wouldn't be looking for vulnerable girls on a reservation.
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  Speaker 1: I have a hard time believing that they would leave
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  Speaker 1: that rock unturned, if you will, these sick, degenerate bastards.
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  Speaker 1: Epstein on Zoro Ranch from ninety three until his death
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  Speaker 1: in twenty nineteen, when he was awaiting trial in New
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  Speaker 1: York on federal charges of sex trafficking. The Truth Commission's
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  Speaker 1: report was due to leaders of the New Mexico House
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  Speaker 1: of Representatives by July thirty first, under the House resolution
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  Speaker 1: that created the commission. However, it wasn't shared until Wednesday.
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  Speaker 1: Romero acknowledged at the news conference Representative Marianna Anaya of Albaque,
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  Speaker 1: Turkey tol reporters the commissioners wanted to share the information
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  Speaker 1: in the report with survivors, which they did Tuesday before
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  Speaker 1: it was released publicly. I don't have a problem with that.
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  Speaker 1: The people who were affected the most should have some
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  Speaker 1: inside track, right, Hey, Look, this is what we found.
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  Speaker 1: Your name was in here, and this is what we're
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  Speaker 1: going to do. God forbid you keep them in the loop.
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  Speaker 1: The Commission's final report is due December thirty first. The
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  Speaker 1: Commission so far has issued twenty subpoenas and received over
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  Speaker 1: one hundred thousand pages from subpoena agencies and organizations, Romero said,
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  Speaker 1: which it's still processing well. According to the report, ten
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  Speaker 1: organizations and agencies have fully complied with subpoenas, two have
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  Speaker 1: partially complied, and eight refused to comply or provided no response.
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  Speaker 1: The federal agency subpoenaed and US Attorney's offices did not
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  Speaker 1: respond or were only in partial compliance. It's so disgusting
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  Speaker 1: to me. The fact that they can just not comply
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  Speaker 1: the rest of us have to is just unbelievably corrupt.
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  Speaker 1: And where's the oversight all these big talking congressmen and women,
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  Speaker 1: all these big talking senators. What a bunch of cowards.
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  Speaker 1: A spokesperson for the US Attorney's Office in the Southern
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  Speaker 1: District of New York, Nicholas bias or Biase, said in
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  Speaker 1: a statement Wednesday, the office is not permitted to disclose
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  Speaker 1: the requested information. The Epstein Files Transparency Act does not require,
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  Speaker 1: and the protective orders in place in the Southern District
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  Speaker 1: of New York do not permit disclosure of victim identifying information.
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  Speaker 1: Carte Blanche and New Mexico is provided no lawful basis
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  Speaker 1: to justify such sweeping disclosures. Biase said, translation, we're hiding
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  Speaker 1: that information and you cannot have it, and there's nothing
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  Speaker 1: you can do to force us to comply. Protecting victim
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  Speaker 1: privacy remains a top priority for the department, and neither
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  Speaker 1: two ear requests nor a desire to cooperate outweighs that privacy. Wow,
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: do you have no shame? Honestly, do they have no shame?
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  Speaker 1: So it's the survivors who're blocking this too. It's always
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  Speaker 1: the survivor's Faultah, you guys paying attention yet, I hope.
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  Speaker 1: So the Commission plans to issue four new subpoenas Romero
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  Speaker 1: announced at Wednesday's hearing, which are not yet posted publicly.
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  Speaker 1: Those will be issued to three state agencies, the New
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  Speaker 1: Mexico Department of Workforce Solutions, the Department of Public Safety,
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  Speaker 1: and the Department of Taxation and Revenue, along with ten
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: thousand Waves SPA in Santa Fe. And we heard that
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  Speaker 1: that SPA was providing women to Epstein. Is it true.
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  Speaker 1: I don't know, but we certainly heard that. So that's
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  Speaker 1: a good subpoena and maybe we'll learn a little bit
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  Speaker 1: of something. Massage therapists from ten thousand Waves were recruited
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  Speaker 1: to provide massages at the ranch, former ranch manager Bryce
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  Speaker 1: Gordon told the FBI in two thousand and seven. However,
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: the SPA issued a statement in April saying it never
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: provided therapists for off premises house calls and only learned
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  Speaker 1: of Epstein's misconduct when the public did. Well, maybe the
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: women that were working there were doing a little bit
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  Speaker 1: of a side hustle. That's plausible, right, They work at
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: the ten thousand waves and then on their time off
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: they're doing some side hustle in and doing massages. So again,
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: we need to get to the bottom of it. We
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: need to know the truth. The Truth Commission has in
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: yet subpoenaed individuals, though it acknowledges deposition of witnesses will
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: be the most crucial part of executing the Commission's mandate.
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: And look the depositions, those transcripts and sitting down for conversations.
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  Speaker 1: They tell the real story. And that's why I love
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  Speaker 1: to dive in to any deposition we can get our
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: hands on. It's always better when people are being asked directly.
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  Speaker 1: That way, there's no place to hide. Either you answered
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  Speaker 1: the question or you didn't. The report states those interviews
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  Speaker 1: will come after thorough review and organization around records in
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: return of the subpoenas it's not clear when that will be.
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  Speaker 1: New Mexico native Rachel Benavidez, who accused Epstein of abuse,
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  Speaker 1: appeared in person to testify on Wednesday. As she has
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  Speaker 1: at previous hearings, she urged the Commission to question these
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  Speaker 1: co conspirators and perpetrators individually under oath. Benavidez first went
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  Speaker 1: to the ranch in ninety nine as a twenty five
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: year old massage therapist for Maxwell and then Epstein. She
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: told the national media. She says that Epstein sexually assaulted
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  Speaker 1: her there over the course of around two years. This
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  Speaker 1: was a monster who used power, intimidation, wealth, influence, false
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  Speaker 1: pretenses and a masked disguise to gain access and exploit
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  Speaker 1: the one thing that meant everything to me at the time,
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  Speaker 1: my heart earned career, Benavidez told the Commission on Wednesday.
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  Speaker 1: He exploited us all and too many people within his
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  Speaker 1: network scoffed at the idea that he could possibly be
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  Speaker 1: a sexual predator and a criminal. These same people, we
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  Speaker 1: later learned, couldn't wait to participate in the abuse and
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: then fervently deny it. She added, I use this survivor
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  Speaker 1: platform to stand on the right side of every survivor's
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: journey towards justice and truth. Benevetez said, I'm holding on
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: to faith that real accountability will be achieved. Man. I
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: hope so, and I wish I could tell you guys
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: that I was confident that we get there, but I'm not. Now.
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  Speaker 1: That doesn't mean I've given up all hope. If that
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: was the case, we'd stop talking about this. But it's
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: going to be a tough fight, and I want people
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: to be prepared for the ups and downs that come
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: along with that. So I just want everyone to be
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: prepared because this battle has just begun. All the information
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: that goes with this episode can be found in the
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: description box.