Former New Mexico AG Gary King Faces New Epstein Scrutiny (Part 1) (9/10/26)

0:00What's up everyone and welcome to another episode of the Epstein Chronicles. When it comes to New Mexico and Jeffrey Epstein, there is a lot that still needs to be explained. And there's a lot of people from New Mexico that had very, very close ties to Jeffrey Epstein. That still refused to admit it. And one of those people, according to all reports, is none other than former New Mexico Attorney General Gary King. Now Epstein's family, purchased the ranch from the King family. Then of course, Mr. King himself met with Jeffrey Epstein in 2010. And he also accepted money from Jeffrey Epstein's companies in 2014. Oh, and by the way, he also flew on a private jet Epstein help charter later that year while he was running for governor. Now Deb Highland, who is the current Democratic governor nominee down in New Mexico, she was also on the flight in 2014. And for all these years, Mr. King really hasn't had

1:03much to say about Jeffrey Epstein. But now that he's forced to say something, of course, it's the same story we've heard time and time again. A hardly new one. I had no idea what he was doing or what he was. And you got the wrong guy. So today we have an article from the Santa Fe, New Mexican and the headline. He wasn't my friend. Former New Mexico AG Gary King tries to distance himself from Jeffrey Epstein. This article was authored by Clara Bates. Former New Mexico Attorney General Gary King says his ties to Jeffrey Epstein have been exaggerated and that the legislative panel formed to investigate Epstein hasn't reached out to hear his side of the story. About 10 years too late, Mr. King. Your story might have been important previously, right? When people were, you know, actually investigating Jeffrey Epstein and what he was up to might have been the right time to come forward. King 71 is perhaps the most prominent living New Mexico politician accused of having

2:06closed ties to the late finance here and convicted sex offender. The New Mexican reported in March that King, who was Attorney General for eight years, when Epstein owned a ranch in the state, had more contact with Epstein after Epstein's guilty plea to a child's sex crime than was previously known based on emails released by the US Department of Justice earlier this year. And remember the timeline's crucial. You can't run around and say you had no idea what Jeffrey Epstein was after he was already convicted. But unfortunately the vast majority of people that we talk about it's all after the fact. So they really don't have any kind of defense, right? No tenable ground. King that Epstein for tea and Santa Fe in 2010, accepted campaign donations from Epstein's companies in 2014 and flew on a private jet Epstein helped charter later that year while running for governor. Deb Holland, the current Democratic gubernatorial nominee, was running for

3:06lieutenant governor then that was also on that September 8th 2014 flight. King didn't respond to several calls from two New Mexican reporters in February. However, in two phone interviews this week King said he met Epstein only once was unaware of the 2014 donation made under the name of Epstein's companies were from Epstein and didn't know he helped charter the private plane. Sure doesn't know a whole lot does he? Bet you he knew a whole lot about people selling drugs, bet you he knew a whole lot about people committing white collar fraud. But when it comes to Jeffrey Epstein and the shit Epstein was up to no idea. And mind you this was the attorney general of the state, but he has no idea. Okay, I guess the lady that ran the hotel I stayed at down in New Mexico. I guess she knows more than the attorney general did. There's no information out there that you have or that anybody else has that I did him any favors that I socialize with him that we were friendly in any way. King said there are people that

4:10are making up stuff about that out there, but none of it's true. He wasn't my friend. Well, I don't need to make anything up. We have the emails. We have the correspondence. And we also know that you're not just meeting him for tea for no reason. King also defended the fact that as the attorney general, he didn't investigate Epstein following Epstein's 2008 guilty plea to solicitation a prostitution with a minor in Florida. Well, okay, great. Fine. Let's just be generous and give him that. Why were you associating with him? If he was a known child molester, somebody that solicited quote-unquote a child prostitute, which doesn't even exist, why are you still spending time with him? Why you meeting him for tea? Why are you meeting up with him for anything besides Buston his fucking head open? I have freely admitted all along that we solicited campaign contributions from him as we did from lots and lots of people, but I never

5:10did him any favors or looked the other way or did any of those kinds of things based on either knowing them or receiving campaign contributions from him. King said the New Mexico House of Representatives formed an investigative subcommittee in February to examine Epstein's activities in the state. Potential crimes that occurred at a Zoro Ranch, impossible legislative fixes. Separately, the State Department of Justice is running a criminal investigation, looking to charge individuals connected to Epstein's crimes. I have a funny feeling that's going to come up Bust. Because they're not going to be willing to go after the people they should go after. I mean, you have a slam dunk when you're talking about people like Indyke and Con, people like Leslie Groff, people like Sarah Kellen-Vickers, they were all involved, and there's a money trail for all of it. But of course, that's not what they're interested in. What they're interested in is trying to make it look like they're doing something, but until somebody's in cuffs, until we have a case, I really don't want to hear it.

6:15Although King expected to be called to testify by the legislative truth commission by now, he hasn't been. Maybe they're not really interested in the truth that much. King said, certainly nobody in the AG's office has ever called me to talk to me about it. So no, nobody's been interested. Well, that was the whole entire idea. Nobody was interested because they didn't want to drag this back up. And if this debate was enforced, nobody would be talking about it. And that's just the truth. A spokesperson said the commission is following the evidence and acting upon our investigation into course. While we will be calling on persons of interest directly, we also welcome additional sources and encourage government officials with relevant information to reach out to our commission. Pam Armstrong responding to questions on behalf of the commission's Democratic members, Representative Andrea Romero and Mariana Anaya wrote in an email like everything else it has to devolve into bitch ass politics. Nobody can just get up there and say, you know what?

7:19Let's put our bullshit to the side and let's try and figure this out. What those other little petty fights aren't still going to be there? Of course they are. Epstein purchased the ranch. He named Zorro in 93 from Gary King's father, former governor Bruce King and his family, large land owners, in the southern Santa Fe county area. As King heard it from his family members, Epstein was driving around looking for ranch land to buy around the Galisti O'Bason when he saw a hilltop near Stanley and asked his real estate agent, who on the land? His real estate agent reached out to the King family and they made an offer to buy the land there. King said the sell offer was the first the family had ever heard of Epstein. He said yes, certainly not the last. Might have been the first you heard from him. And after you heard that he was molesting kids, that should have been the last, right? But I guess not. Epstein paid around 3 million for the property, King said, which record show amounted to around

8:217600 privately deeded acres, not included, least public land. Epstein associate Glein Maxwell said in interview with the US Department of Justice last year that Epstein cast a wide net in a search for property. The two of them visited Montana, Utah and New Mexico. And he just loved New Mexico, she said, yeah, he loved the edge of consent. He loved the fact that it was 16 and he wouldn't have to register there. That's what he loved. Like are people for real? Oh yeah, Jeffrey Epstein just loved the beautiful sunsets in the New Mexican desert. It was no surprise Epstein wanted the property, King said, rattling off the names of famous people that have purchased land in the Santa Fe area. Oh well, in that case, King said his family had little connection to Epstein after the purchase. Over the years, King heard about workers attending church in Stanley, but he didn't have any personal knowledge of Epstein's activities there. Epstein would come in, spend a few weeks, or something like that, and then leave, as King understood

9:23it. Man, that must be wild. Be the attorney general of the state and have no idea. Meanwhile, people without a running hotels and motels, people at gas stations know that something bad's going on at the ranch. No wonder New Mexico's in such a piss-poor state. King remembers only a handful of phone calls with Epstein over the years, the first of which was in 2006 to solicit campaign donations. Epstein donated 15,000 to King's campaign for attorney general, the New Mexican reported in 2006. King this week said he reached out to everybody who might be interested in making a contribution. Now look, this was in 2006, so it wasn't after the conviction, so he can try and use that as defense, but come on. The sharks were already circling, and the investigation into Epstein was fully underway. He means to tell me that the attorney general had no idea what was going on. I mean, come on. He was somebody who lived in the area, and indeed, was a businessman. We reached

10:31out to and solicited contributions from pretty much everybody that we knew, King said. After Epstein's 2006 arrest in Florida, on accusations of soliciting sex from girls, King told the New Mexican he planned to return the money to avoid any impurrence of impropriety. I don't think I've ever met him personally. He said in 2006, he knows other members of my family better. King said this week, he doesn't remember saying he would return the funds. I don't recall ever returning any funds that he would have given. In 2006, he said, King won the election and took office in 2007. The following year, Epstein pleaded guilty to appropriating a minor for prostitution, and soliciting prostitution in Florida in a deal widely criticized as lenient. After Florida police identified dozens underage victims accusing Epstein of abuse. Epstein served 13 months in jail and was placed on house arrest in Florida until July of 2010. Not long after Epstein's house

11:34arrested, he decided to reach out to King for a meeting. So he has no room to argue here, okay? Epstein was already convicted and you met him for tea. Now imagine if some child molester, some abuser of kids hits you up and says, hey, you know what? Maybe we should meet up for some tea. What do you think? Pretty sure I know the answer that most of you would give. In King's telling, Epstein reached out to a range of meeting in August 2010 because he wanted to express his condolences for Bruce King, who died the year before. They ordered to Patsa Tee at Gingerbar and Bistro, King said, and chatted about his father. It seems to be sort of a human thing if somebody wants to express their condolences to accept that, King said, oh yeah, from a convicted child molester. I'm just, you know, showing decorum. I'm just doing the honorable thing, like Prince Andrew said. Ask whether he had concerns since Epstein had just come off his child's sex crime sentence,

12:34King said, as a former defense attorney, he was acquainted with people who had been in jail. What does that even mean? Yeah, that was your professional job, but you have these kind of friends in your personal life. Okay, I guess. My upbringing was such that I had been taught to be polite and compassionate to every human being. And so I don't perceive talking to Mr. Epstein to be anything other than being polite or compassionate, he said. I guess that's one way to explain it. Then there's the other way, and that way is that you just don't give a fuck that he was molesting kids. King said he doesn't think that Epstein and Bruce King kept in touch after the sale of the ranch, but his father was well known and respected, so he wasn't surprised Epstein, wanted to pay his condolences. It's possible Epstein appreciated being connected with the state's political elite, King said, but his father had been out of office since 95. So do you think that he had no connections anymore? His son's running for attorney general, they're one of the richest families in the whole state, but they have no connections. Nobody that they can reach out to on Epstein's

13:39behalf. Nobody they can set Epstein up with. Okay. Asked whether it's possible, Epstein wanted to connect with King as attorney generally said, I don't know that anybody ever perceived me as being particularly powerful, but yeah, if you look back at it over the course of time, it might be that he thought that being friendly to me was what might be beneficial to him at some point in the future. I can't speak to that because I wasn't inside his head. King remembered at the ginger meeting, the two also talked about the Santa Fe Institute, where Epstein knew prominent Nobel laureate physicist Murray Jellman. King, who trained as a chemist, was interested in whether I might be able to meet this Nobel Prize winner and curious about the institute in general. King never got an introduction to anybody at the Santa Fe Institute from that, he said, well, Jeffrey Epstein had serious serious ties to the Santa Fe Institute and to Murray Jellman. And when I went to the Santa Fe

14:39Institute, they didn't want to talk at all. They had nothing to say. In fact, they sent one of their goons to escort me off the campus. And I find it laughable that Mr. King is acting like he needed Jeffrey Epstein to set up some kind of meeting with Mr. Jellman. He means to tell me his family, the King family, couldn't reach out to the Santa Fe Institute and get the meeting, of course they could. So that's not really an excuse, in my opinion, that holds any water. And like most of the nonsense, we hear coming from people that were adjacent to Epstein, it doesn't really hold up when compared to the contemporaneous evidence. So in the next episode, we're going to pick up where we left off, and that's with 2014 donations. All the information that goes with this episode can be found in the description box.