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Deb Haaland rode on jet chartered by Epstein in 2014 for running mate Gary King

Her staff says gubernatorial candidate had no knowledge of financier's involvement

In this November 2014 file photo, former gubernatorial candidate Gary King, right, and Deb Haaland prepare to speak to the crowd after losing the bid for governor and lieutenant governor at the Double Tree Hotel in Downtown Albuquerque.
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Former gubernatorial candidate Gary King and then-running mate Deb Haaland, currently running for governor, took a jet in 2014 chartered for King by Jeffrey Epstein to Washington on a fundraising trip with several campaign staff.

A flight log among millions of Epstein files released by the Department of Justice lists passengers on the September 2014 flight as King and Haaland along with three campaign staffers, including Chris Khoury. 

The flight log does not list any other passengers. Related emails, also released among the Epstein files, show the jet was chartered through ACP Jets by Jege LLC 鈥 one of Epstein鈥檚 companies.

Hannah Menchoff, spokesperson for the Haaland campaign, confirmed the flight occurred but said Haaland had no relationship with Epstein and no knowledge that he was involved in the charter flight.

鈥淛effrey Epstein is a despicable predator who committed heinous crimes and Deb strongly supports a full investigation into the crimes committed both in New Mexico and abroad,鈥 Menchhoff said in a statement. 鈥淒eb never had any interaction with him and the way in which the plane was chartered was never communicated to her.鈥

King, when reached Tuesday, said he also had no knowledge that the flight was tied to Epstein, but didn鈥檛 rule out the possibility.

King, a former state attorney general, ran for governor in 2014, with Haaland as his running mate, but lost to Republican incumbent Susana Martinez in that year鈥檚 general election. Haaland went on to be the state Democratic Party chairwoman for two years before being elected in 2018 to the U.S. House representing an Albuquerque-based congressional seat.

She was then appointed by President Joe Biden to lead the U.S. Department of the Interior, and became the first Native American woman to hold a Cabinet-level position upon her confirmation in March 2021. Haaland stepped down from that post after Donald Trump was elected president in 2024.

In this year鈥檚 race for governor, Haaland is vying with Sam Bregman for the Democratic Party鈥檚 nomination. Five Republicans are also running to be the state鈥檚 next chief executive.

According to emails released in the Epstein files, the 2014 flight was arranged at Epstein鈥檚 behest by his longtime pilot Larry Visoski. Epstein 鈥 who was convicted on sex trafficking charges in 2008 鈥 had ties to King as he purchased the Zorro Ranch near Stanley from King鈥檚 family in 1993. 

On Aug. 22, 2014, Epstein emailed Visoski, 鈥済ary king needs a cheap charter from sfe , to wash dc. on the eve of sept 8 at 8 pm.鈥

Visoski responded via email with a quote on a flight, adding, 鈥淚鈥檓 still waiting for other charter companies to return quotes.鈥 On Aug. 25, Epstein emailed Visoski, 鈥渓ets orgainze the jet for gary king he can pay 11.6 we can arrange to pay through two diffent entities 10 4 please call his gyy Chris khoury.鈥

Other emails show Visoski negotiating prices for a flight on Sept. 8 from Santa Fe to Washington, D.C. No direct correspondence between King and Epstein regarding the flight could be found among the files.

However, an Aug. 21, 2014, email to Epstein 鈥 from a redacted sender 鈥 said, 鈥淧lease call Gary King when you have a moment.鈥

The email continued, 鈥淗e said he was returning your call but also wanted to speak to you about possibly using your plane to get him from Sante Fe evening of Sept 8th (around 8pm) so he could make a breakfast in DC on Sept 9th...he says he can pay for the fuel and landing/airport fees...He said another option might be to take the Jet Blue red eye flight to NY and then borrow your plane to go to DC from NY...that could work for him as well.鈥

In an interview on Tuesday, King said he remembered the flight but had no knowledge it was connected to Epstein, 鈥淚 thought we chartered that jet from NetJets.鈥

鈥淲e paid for it. I suppose that maybe Epstein loans his planes to NetJets or something like that. But we, we didn鈥檛, we didn鈥檛, on purpose lease it from one of Epstein鈥檚 companies,鈥 he said.

King said the jet carried them to Washington, D.C., after former Gov. Bill Richardson arranged for King and Haaland to meet with national union leaders. Khoury, reached by phone on Tuesday, said they couldn鈥檛 find a commercial flight that could make it to D.C. for the early morning meeting and Richardson 鈥渉ad a hand in helping us arrange some stuff.鈥

鈥淢y recollection was, after talking to Richardson, Epstein reached out to Gary (King) and said, 鈥楬ey, I know this company that has this plane, and I'll help,鈥欌 Khoury said, adding that they all flew back commercial.

King said none of Epstein鈥檚 staff was on the chartered jet, later adding, 鈥淚 probably wouldn鈥檛 have flown on it if I鈥檇 known it was a Jeffrey Epstein jet, even by that point in time.鈥

King 鈥 whose family sold the land to Epstein that would eventually become Zorro Ranch 鈥 said he spoke with him on the phone a couple of times. He said Epstein 鈥減robably made campaign contributions to my dad and me.鈥

King said he recalled only meeting the financier once in person.

鈥淚 only remember ever meeting him once, personally. I don't know, the Legislature may ask me to come tell them about that, too,鈥 he said. 鈥淏ut it was only on the occasion that, after my dad passed away, he called and said he wanted to just sort of meet and have a cup of tea and express his condolences for my dad passing away.鈥

King said he met Epstein in a cafe in Santa Fe 鈥渁nd we had a cup of tea.鈥 He said he never went to the ranch after Epstein bought it or inside the now infamous compound 鈥 Zorro Ranch 鈥 he built on it.

鈥淣ever been through the gate.鈥

Capitol Bureau Chief Dan Boyd contributed to this report.

Matthew Reisen is the Journal鈥檚 news editor. He can be reached at mreisen@abqjournal.com.