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

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 — one of Epstein’s 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.

“Jeffrey 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,”  Menchhoff said in a statement. “Deb never had any interaction with him and the way in which the plane was chartered was never communicated to her.”

King, when reached Tuesday, said he also had no knowledge that the flight was tied to Epstein, but didn’t 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’s 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’s race for governor, Haaland is vying with Sam Bregman for the Democratic Party’s nomination. Five Republicans are also running to be the state’s next chief executive.

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

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

Visoski responded via email with a quote on a flight, adding, “I’m still waiting for other charter companies to return quotes.” On Aug. 25, Epstein emailed Visoski, “lets 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.”

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 — from a redacted sender — said, “Please call Gary King when you have a moment.”

The email continued, “He 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.”

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

“We paid for it. I suppose that maybe Epstein loans his planes to NetJets or something like that. But we, we didn’t, we didn’t, on purpose lease it from one of Epstein’s companies,” 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. Chris Khoury, reached by phone on Tuesday, said they couldn’t find a commercial flight that could make it to D.C. for the early morning meeting and Richardson “had a hand in helping us arrange some stuff.”

“My recollection was, after talking to Richardson, Epstein reached out to Gary (King) and said, ‘Hey, I know this company that has this plane, and I'll help,’” Khoury said, adding that they all flew back commercial.

King said none of Epstein’s staff was on the chartered jet, later adding, “I probably wouldn’t have flown on it if I’d known it was a Jeffrey Epstein jet, even by that point in time.”

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

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

“I only remember ever meeting him once, personally. I don't know, the Legislature may ask me to come tell them about that, too,” he said. “But 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.”

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

“Never been through the gate.”

Capitol Bureau Chief Dan Boyd contributed to this report.

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