← The Epstein Chronicles
The Epstein Chronicles
Lesley Groff And The Transcript From Her Epstein Related Trip to Congress (Part 10) (7/6/26)
00:12:59
Lesley Groff told the House Oversight Committee that she worked for Jeffrey Epstein from February 2001 until July 2019 as his secretary/administrative assistant, handling scheduling, calls, travel coordination, calendars, and staff logistics. Her...
Loading summary
Transcript2 lines
- [00:00]
A
When maintaining your daily wellness rituals is important to you, the change in routine during the summer can feel daunting. Kachava's new travel packs help you stick to your daily ritual even when you're on the go. Just one packet of Cachava's all in One Nutrition Shake provides complete nutrition with 25 grams of protein, 6 grams of fiber, greens, adaptogens, and much more. So you'll be fueled and ready for wherever life or your summer adventures take you. No fillers, no nonsense, just the good stuff your body craves. Plus, it actually tastes delicious. But you can try it for yourself because the Variety pack includes all six delicious fan favorites. Chocolate, Vanilla, Chai, Matcha, Coconut, Acai and Strawberry. So instead of worrying about sticking to your daily ritual, simplify it with Cachava. Go to kachava.com and use code NEWS for 15% off. That's K-A C-H-A-V A.com Code News what's up everyone?
- [01:01]
B
And welcome to another episode of the Epstein Chronicles. In this episode, we're going to pick up where we left off with the Leslie Groff interview with Congress. Question and Was Glenn Maxwell ever present in the room when Mr. Epstein was receiving a massage? Answer I don't know. Question did Ms. Maxwell ever instruct any woman or girl on how to give Mr. Epstein a massage? Answer I don't know. Was anyone else ever present in the room when Mr. Epstein was receiving a massage? I don't know. As you testified to earlier, you began working for Mr. Epstein in 2001. In 2008, he pleaded guilty to two felony counts of soliciting and procuring a minor for prostitution. We'll get into the details of the investigation much more later, but the investigation into him began in 2005 while you were still working for Mr. Epstein. When did you first learn about the investigation? Answer I believe it was 2007. Question and how did you learn? Answer because the FBI came to my door in Connecticut and handed to serve me a subpoena. Question and did you speak with them? Did you give testimony to them then? Answer I let them into my house and sat them on my sofa and they started asking some questions. And yeah, that was it. That was how I found out. Question what questions did they ask? Answer was so long ago, I think they just asked if, you know, they said that they were here. They were very friendly. They just said, you know, we're here because we understand you work for Mr. Epstein as a secretary and we just want to talk to you. I really don't remember what they said. I think my head was probably spinning. I had no idea. Ms. Brignac. Question. Who did you speak to next? Answer My son, who was with me because he had just gotten up from a nap. He was about two and a half to three years old. And I really didn't know what to do, so I went upstairs and I called Darren Endyke, who is the in house counsel, just to say that people are here. I don't, you know, I don't know what to do. And he just said, you should not speak to them without an attorney. And I've watched enough TV to know, okay. So I went downstairs and. And I said, I don't think I should be speaking to you without an attorney present. And they didn't really like that. And then they left. Question did you in fact retain an attorney? Answer I did not retain an attorney myself. Mr. Epstein got me an attorney and I went and spoke to him once. Question. When you spoke to Mr. Indyk, did he seem privy to the investigation? Answer no. Question it was news to him. Answer it sounded like it was news to him, yeah. Ms. Tolan, did anyone ever instruct you besides without having an attorney, but did anyone generally instruct you not to talk to the FBI? No. And at what point did the massages stop occurring for Mr. Epstein? When he went to jail in July of 2006? No, he went to jail. When did he go to jail? 2009, 2008? Yeah. Did the massages stop occurring at that time? Ms. Groff? Yeah. Question did they resume at any point after he was released from jail? Ms. Groff? No. Mr. Emmer, what was your understanding of why the massages stopped at that point? Ms. Groff? He never said. There was no reason. They just stopped. Mr. Timmons, when he was on work release, did he not get massages when he was out of jail temporarily? Ms. Groff? No. Brignac? I'm sorry. Ms. Groff, you said they never resumed. Ms. Grof. They did not resume after he got back or when he came got out of jail. Ms. Brignac, you never booked a massage for Mr. Epstein once he was released from prison? Ms. Grof, it's possible that there was a massage at a spa in Palm Beach, Don Wick, that we discussed earlier. They had a medical chiropractic care spa, and I think that might have been one time. I think he bought like a package of 10 for a nutritionist. They were nutritionists in chiropractic care. And Don was also a registered masseuse. Mr. Timmons. So in 2013. When you moved into the residence and your office was there, he never had you book a massage for him until he died in 2019? Ms. Grof? That's correct. Ms. Brignac. But he continued to receive massages? Correct. Did someone else book them? Ms. Grof? Not that I know of. I don't know that massages were being booked or made. Brignac. Why would the massages need to cease if that was a regular part of his day? And he said, in fact, he was not guilty? Ms. Groff. I don't know. He also stopped drinking tea. Ms. Whitcomb. You answered the question. Ms. Groff. Yeah. Ms. Whitcomb. You Answered the question. Ms. Groff. I don't know. Yeah. Ms. Brignac. Did you find it odd that it was a regular part of your practice to schedule his massages and then it suddenly stopped? Ms. Groff. No, Ms. Tolan. And now we're just going to ask a few general questions about your role and and get into some more details about it. Did you have to sign a non disclosure agreement upon being hired as Mr. Epstein's secretary? Answer yes. Question. What were the details of this agreement? Answer. What I recall is that I was not supposed to Discuss any of Mr. Epstein's clients with anyone. And if I did so, it would be a $100,000 fee. Question. And you understood this to mean his business clients, who he managed money for? Answer. Correct. Question and how did you know? I know we discussed earlier your knowledge of who clients were, but how did you know who was a client at the time? Answer. I believe that NDA might have specifically said Les Wexner and then clients and clients. Question. But at the time you would have understood who fell into that category? Answer sure. As clients. His wealthy clients. Huh. Question did you keep a copy of the agreement? I did not. Question. Did all the employees of Mr. Epstein have to sign the agreement? I don't know. Question. Did Mr. Epstein himself ask you to sign the agreement? No. It was part of onboarding. It was probably redacted, is my bet. Question. And you mentioned previously, but can you explain again where you maintained office space while working for him? Answer sure. So from 2001 to 2009, it was part of Helmsley palace, part of the Velard house. And I was located in the rear of the suite, directly back from the receptionist desk. There was a door to my office and then my desk sitting. If you looked outside the window, you could see St. Patrick's Cathedral. Answer and where did you move to in 2009? Answer in 2009, we moved to 301E 66 Street. Answer. And how long were you in that office space? Answer. I believe it was two or three years. Question. When did you get moved to that office space? Answer. We were told that the premier location at Helmsley palace was very expensive location. And since Mr. Epstein wasn't going to be here anymore, what we needed to. We were downsizing and needed to find other space. I don't know why it became 301 E. 66th Street. Question. Did you ever work out of the 457 Madison Avenue building? Answer that was Helmsley Place. Yes. Question. Okay, did you ever. Timmins jumps in real quick. Can I get back to something? So it's my understanding that Epstein had a massage every day for his entire life, but after he got out of jail, you never booked a massage therapist. Did you book the eight assistants for an hour and to just say name hour or what he getting massage? So like. And you were in charge of his schedule. So what was going on? Mean, did you book a redacted 10am for an hour? Grof. No. Timmons. No Grof. No Timmons. Okay. He got a massage for every day of his life. So when? After 2010, when he got out of jail? When. When did that happen? I mean, if you knew his schedule CRO, when did it stop? Timmons. He was getting them. The question is, who was giving them to him if you were not coordinating it? So how did he. Who was doing it? Mr. Wickham jumps in. Was there someone else coordinating Mr. Timmons? Was there like a logical spot in his schedule on a regular basis that used to have a massage that now has something else, a pattern? Bachner. Maybe if you ask, I don't know if we ask her if she knew he was getting massages. Timmons. Okay, Grof. Yeah, Timmons. Was there a pattern in the schedule that would suggest that there was a moment in his day on a regular basis that he was getting a massage since you stopped scheduling them? Groff. No. Timmins. Okay, sorry. Back to Ms. Tolan. And then just a few more office questions. Did you ever work out of the Palm beach home? Answer no. Question. Did you? And did you mentioned an office space in Manhattan townhome later on? Answer. Later on. Yes. Question. And aside from scheduling massages, can you describe your other roles and responsibilities as Mr. Epstein's secretary? Answer. Sure. I scheduled his business meetings. I schedule breakfast, lunch, dinner. If he was going to have a party, I might coordinate with that. I coordinated with his staff at all the homes on his island. I coordinated with his Pilots. I would sometimes coordinate trips to, say, a TED conference. I would the call list, as I said, was very extensive. He would make calls every day and. Yeah. Question and also aside from the massages, did you ever spend money or provide cash on behalf of Mr. Epstein during your time as a secretary to anyone? No. Question did you ever help order or purchase gifts for anyone on behalf of Mr. Epstein? Answer no. Question and I'm just going to answer some more clarifying questions about purchasing gifts. Ms. Bauchner, I have one word with her. Ton. Yeah, they go off the record now they're back on. Ms. Groff. Yeah, okay. I was going to say sorry after you asked that, I would say that I definitely coordinated about 40 people to receive Apple watches. And you know, I might be asked to buy the gift card for Kathy Rumler to a spa, something like that. Ms. Toen, question what were the Apple watches for? Answer I think they were Christmas gifts, holiday gifts. That was about. There was a list of about 40 people, men and women, high profile people there. And Mr. Epstein just wanted to give everybody a watch for Christmas. Question do you recall any of the names who receive watches? Answer I do. I was one of them. Steve Bannon was one of them. Jojo and Lynn, I believe were on there. I don't recall. Who else? Question what year was that? Answer I think that was 2018. Question and did you ever purchase any gifts for any of Mr. Epstein's assistants? Answer I don't think so. Question did you purchase gifts for any other woman associated with Mr. Epstein? Answer I know Kathy Rumler got a gift card at Christmas time. I recall getting Leon Black's assistant. I think she got a spa card. Question did you ever purchase lingerie for women associated with Mr. Epstein? Answer no. Question what about flowers? Answer Kathy Rummler might have received flowers. What about chocolates? Answer not that I recall. Ms. Brignac, what was his relationship with Kathy Rumler? Answer Business? Yes, they were. From what I could tell, it was a business relationship. Question it seemed like a business relationship after he was sending flowers and spa appointments. Answer I think he thought of her as very professional and he was very generous and I think he found her. She was very busy and probably enjoyed some flowers on her birthday or a spa gift card. Question Was there any office gossip about their relationship? Answer no. Question did you hear any rumors about their relationship? Answer no. Mr. Emmer, what was her job during this period? Answer by Ms. Grof she was an attorney. Emmer do you know gets cut off by Grof? I don't know exactly But I knew her to be an attorney, Ms. Toen. And you said Mr. Epstein knew her. Their relationship was strictly business. What kind of business were they engaging in together? Can you elaborate, Ms. Groff? I don't know. He did not talk to me about that. Mr. Bochner, can I ask her another question? Goes off the record. Back on Ms. Brignac, and you had access to Mr. Epstein's personal email accounts, did you see any conversations about Ms. Ruemler's job position? Ms. Groff? I did not have access to his personal email account. I mean, I would email him, but I didn't see his emails. Ms. Brignac, were you CCed on any emails that referenced Rumler's profession? Grof? I don't recall. Emmer. In relation to Rumler. The committee is interested in how Mr. Epstein may have surrounded himself with influential individuals to curry favor. Did you understand Rumler to be an individual that was working at the White House during the period that you had been scheduling their meetings, Ms. Groff? I thought she worked at the White house prior to Mr. Epstein's meeting. Mr. Emmer. Thank you. All right, we're going to wrap up right here. And in the next episode dealing with the topic, we're going to pick up where we left off. All the information that goes with this episode can be found in the description box.