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NEW MEXICO: Trump DOJ Accused of Blocking Epstein Ranch Investigation
More than a dozen women say they were abused there. The state says Washington is keeping the names and records buried.
New Mexico Attorney General Raul Torrez says the Trump administration is obstructing his investigation into alleged crimes committed at Jeffrey Epstein’s Zorro Ranch by refusing to hand over unredacted federal records. Torrez says his office has waited 130 days for material that could identify victims, witnesses, dates, and possible suspects connected to the sprawling desert property.
In a letter to acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, Torrez said the delay is causing “real and escalating harm” to any possible criminal case. Every redacted name, blacked-out face, and obscured date cuts off another investigative path before it begins, he warned, while memories fade, witnesses move, and physical evidence becomes harder to verify.
More than a dozen women have alleged they were abused by Epstein at the ranch, though nobody has been convicted of crimes committed there. Among the redacted material is an unsubstantiated allegation that two foreign girls were buried on the orders of “Jeffrey and Madam G.” Without complete files, Torrez says investigators cannot even properly identify and contact everyone who may know what happened.
The Justice Department claims it “substantially responded” last month and says it welcomes further investigation, but Torrez says repeated letters and a request for a meeting have gone unanswered. Meanwhile, the 10,000-acre ranch, complete with mansion and airstrip, has been sold to a Republican Texas official who wants to turn it into a Christian retreat. The symbolism is almost too neat. A property tied to allegations of abuse gets scrubbed, repackaged, and blessed while the records remain locked in Washington.
Hot Take
The desert preserves bones better than governments preserve truth. Washington keeps the files shaded while time does the dirty work for everyone who wants the ranch to stay quiet.
CALIFORNIA: D4vd Faces July Hearing in Celeste Rivas Hernandez Killing
The court will soon decide whether prosecutors have enough evidence to put the singer on trial.
D4vd, whose legal name is David Burke, is scheduled to face a preliminary hearing on July 21 in Los Angeles, where a judge will decide whether the criminal case against him should proceed to trial. His legal team had sought multiple delays before the date was finally set.
Burke is accused of sexually abusing 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez and killing her after prosecutors say she threatened to expose their alleged relationship and damage his career. Her badly decomposed and mutilated body was discovered last September inside the trunk of a Tesla registered to him.
Prosecutors say the alleged abuse began while Celeste was under 14. Burke canceled the remainder of his tour after her body was found and was arrested months later. He has pleaded not guilty. The hearing will not determine guilt, but it will force the state to show enough of its hand to prove this case is more than accusation and horror stitched together.
Hot Take
Fame can keep a man moving for a while. Then the music stops, the courtroom doors open, and the dead girl becomes the only voice anyone can hear.
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WASHINGTON: Epstein Survivors Say Lesley Groff Lied to Congress
The longtime assistant said she never met the girls, knew their ages, or handed them money. Multiple survivors say otherwise.
Several Jeffrey Epstein survivors are accusing his former assistant Lesley Groff of giving false testimony to Congress about her contact with the girls and young women Epstein abused. Groff told House investigators she never met the massage providers, did not know their ages, and never personally paid them.
Six women interviewed by CNN disputed those claims. They described meeting Groff in Epstein’s offices and townhouse, discussing ages and travel documents with her, and receiving cash, checks, or Broadway tickets directly from her. Some said she regularly asked about girls’ ages and appearances before appointments were arranged.
The House Oversight Committee says it is comparing Groff’s transcript with available evidence. Knowingly giving materially false information to Congress can be a federal crime. Survivors are now asking the same question that has followed nearly every Epstein associate into the hearing room: how did so many people work beside the machine for years and somehow claim they never heard it running?
Hot Take
Everyone around Epstein remembers the calendar and forgets the girls. Funny thing about memory. It gets foggy exactly where the handcuffs might fit.
WASHINGTON: Kash Patel’s Luxury Travel and Spending Face Congressional Probe
Lawmakers want to know whether the FBI director turned official travel into a taxpayer-funded bucket list.
FBI Director Kash Patel is facing scrutiny from Democrats on the House and Senate Judiciary Committees over allegations of extravagant spending, personal travel, luxury vehicles, and demands for recreational perks while conducting official business abroad.
Lawmakers Jamie Raskin and Dick Durbin cited claims involving VIP snorkeling in Hawaii, jet skiing, helicopter tours, BMW SUVs, and possible retaliation against FBI personnel who failed to keep Patel entertained. Republican Senator Chuck Grassley has separately asked why the bureau purchased BMWs instead of its usual Chevrolet Suburbans.
The FBI calls the allegations false and says Patel reimbursed all personal expenses while complying with government rules. Congress is demanding a full accounting by July 22. The wider concern is not just the bill. It is whether the man running the FBI sees public office as a security assignment or an all-access pass with a motorcade attached.
Hot Take
A badge opens doors. A government jet opens more. The trouble starts when the man holding both forgets which trips belong to the country and which belong to him.
MASSACHUSETTS: Judge Drops Three Charges Before Lindsay Clancy Murder Trial
The strangulation counts are gone, but the three murder charges remain exactly where they were.
A Massachusetts judge has dismissed three strangulation or suffocation charges against Lindsay Clancy ahead of her murder trial, agreeing with prosecutors that the counts were redundant. Clancy still faces three murder charges and three assault charges in the deaths of her children.
Prosecutors say Clancy used exercise bands around the necks of Cora, 5, Dawson, 3, and eight-month-old Callen before jumping from a second-story window in January 2023. She survived but was left paralyzed. Her children were found by her husband and later pronounced dead.
Clancy has pleaded not guilty and is expected to pursue an insanity defense centered on postpartum depression, psychiatric treatment, and claims that a voice told her to kill the children and herself. Jury selection begins July 20, and the trial is expected to last several weeks. Three charges have disappeared from the docket, but the unbearable center of the case has not moved an inch.
Hot Take
Courts can trim a charge sheet. They cannot make the nursery quieter. Three children are still dead, and every legal argument has to walk past that door.