U.S. Senator Mike Lee, R-Utah (left) and U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.)
Chip Somodevilla | Kayla Bartkowski | getty images
Jeffrey Epstein’s allegations came to light during a dispute between Sens. Mike Lee, R-Utah, and Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., over the fate of the Cesar Chavez National Monument.
Heinrich, the ranking member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, objected to a bill Tuesday seeking to dismantle and close the monument after multiple women accused Chavez, an icon of the farm worker movement, of sexual harassment. Heinrich objected to the bill, citing concerns that erasing the monument would diminish the work of other leaders in the farm labor movement.
“I unequivocally agree that we should no longer have a monument named after Cesar Chávez,” he said in the Senate after the objection. “But we absolutely must not erase the monuments that tell the story of the farm worker movement. It is a story that belongs to many people, including survivors of Chávez’s violence.”
Chávez, who died in 1993, was accused in a recent report by several women who worked with him of abusing them as minors. the new York Times.
Heinrich proposed amending the bill to temporarily close the monument and called on the government to investigate a new monument to honor the farm worker movement.
Committee Chairman Lee criticized Heinrich for objecting to the bill put forward by Senator John Cornyn, R-Texas.
“The Cesar Chavez National Memorial is the same place where Chavez sexually abused women and children,” Lee said. “Senate Democrats fought to keep this crime scene revered as a national monument.
This monument is a National Park Service site in Keene, California.
Cornyn’s bill would immediately close the site, requiring the federal government to sell the land that includes Chávez’s home, his burial ground and memorial garden, and any contents of his private office, where The New York Times reported he abused a minor.
The proposal comes amid a reckoning over sexual misconduct in Congress and Washington, which recently saw two House members resign over alleged sexual misconduct and was thrown into crisis by the release of the Epstein files earlier this year.
“Given that two members of Congress resigned today due to sexual abuse allegations, I find it incomprehensible that (Heinrich) has offered an amendment that would protect the legacy of Cesar Chavez, who sexually abused minors.” Cornyn said in an X post On Tuesday.
The graves of labor leader and civil rights activist Cesar Chavez and his wife Helen are seen at the Cesar E. Chavez National Memorial in Keene, California, March 18, 2026.
Justin Sullivan | getty images
Henrik replied Took And cornin By posting headlines about the couple voting against releasing the Epstein files.
Lee then posted a copy of a 2012 email to Epstein, in which the disgraced financier asked if he wanted to meet Heinrich, a House member running for the Senate, for lunch in New York City.
“Congressman Martin Heinrich will be in NYC tomorrow and would love to have lunch with you around 12:30 pm if you are free,” reads the email, sent by a representative of the fundraising firm Dynamic SRG. “Please let me know if you are interested in meeting him and learning more about his run for Senate in New Mexico.”
Asked for comment on the controversy, Heinrich’s office told CNBC that “it has already been reported”.
Albuquerque Journal It was reported in February that the letter was part of the Epstein files released by the Justice Department.
In a statement to the Journal, Heinrich’s spokesperson said he “never met Jeffrey Epstein.”
“Heinrich also never accepted any campaign contributions from Epstein,” the spokesperson said.