U.S. Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah (left) and U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.)
Chip Somodevilla | Kayla Bartkowski | Getty Images
Jeffrey Epstein allegations flew during a spat between Sens. Mike Lee, R-Utah, and Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., over the fate of the César Chávez National Monument.
Heinrich, the ranking member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, objected to a bill on Tuesday to defund and close the monument after multiple women accused Chávez — an icon in the farm labor movement — of sexual assault. Heinrich objected to the bill, citing concerns that erasing the monument would diminish the work of other leaders in the farm labor movement.
“I agree unequivocally that we should no longer have a monument named after Cesar Chavez,” he said on the Senate floor after objecting. “But we absolutely should not erase the monuments telling of the story of the farm labor movement. That is a story that belongs to many people, including the survivors of Chavez’s violence.”
Chávez, who died in 1993, was accused by several women who he worked with of abusing them as minors in a recent report by The New York Times.
Heinrich proposed amending the bill to temporarily close the monument and require the government to examine a new monument to honor the farm labor movement.
Lee, the committee chair, lashed out at Heinrich for objecting to the bill put forward by Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas.
“The César Chávez National Monument is the very place where Chávez sexually abused women and children,” Lee said. “Senate Democrats just fought to keep this crime scene enshrined as a national monument.
The monument is a National Park Service site in Keene, Calif.
Cornyn’s bill would immediately close the site, require the federal government to sell the land that includes Chávez’s home, his gravesite and memorial garden and any contents of his personal office, where The New York Times reported he abused a minor.
The proposal comes amid a reckoning over sexual malfeasance in Congress and Washington, which just saw two members of the House resign over alleged sexual misconduct and has been wracked by the release of the Epstein files earlier this year.
“Given that two members of Congress resigned today because of sexual abuse allegations, I find it unfathomable that [Heinrich] offered an amendment that would protect the legacy of César Chávez who sexually abused minors,” Cornyn said in an X post on Tuesday.
The gravesites of labor leader and civil rights activist Cesar Chavez and his wife Helen are seen at the Cesar E. Chavez National Monument on March 18, 2026 in Keene, California.
Justin Sullivan | Getty Images
Heinrich responded to Lee and Cornyn by posting headlines of the pair voting against the release of the Epstein files.
Lee then posted a copy of a 2012 email to Epstein asking the disgraced financier if he wants to meet with Heinrich, then a House member running for Senate, for lunch in New York City.
“Congressman Martin Heinrich will be in NYC tomorrow and would love to get lunch with you around 12:30 p.m. if you’re free,” the email, sent by a representative of the fundraising firm Dynamic SRG, reads. “Please let me know if you’re interested in meeting him and learning more about his race for Senate in New Mexico.”
Heinrich’s office told CNBC that “this has already been reported on” when asked for comment on the spat.
The Albuquerque Journal 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.
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