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The Epstein Chronicles
Lesley Groff And The Transcript From Her Epstein Related Trip to Congress (Part 8) (7/5/26)
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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...
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What's up, everyone? And welcome to another episode of the Epstein Chronicles. In this episode, we're going to get right back to Leslie Groff and our conversation with Congress. And now it's Ro Khanna asking the questions. Thank you. Ms. Groff, I want to ask you about several men in Mr. Epstein's orbit, and I want you to answer for these men. Did you ever see, hear, schedule, arrange or learn of any sexual activity with a minor girl or young woman who was introduced to these men by Mr. Epstein or Ms. Maxwell first? Les Wexner? Grof No. Kanna Never heard, scheduled, arranged, learned of any sexual activity of any young woman by Mr. Wexner? Ms. Groff. That's correct. No. Mr. Kanna. Alan Dershowitz? Grof no. Glenn Dubin. No. KANNA beyond these names, are there any other men in Mr. Epstein's network who you believe should be investigated for sexually abusing, exploiting, or seeking access to women or girls through The Epstein or Ms. Maxwell? Grof no. KANNA do you believe the first lady is right, that Mr. Epstein did not act alone in the abuse of young women? Ms. Groff, I'm sorry. Could you say that? First Lady. KANA the first Lady, Melania Trump, has said that Mr. Epstein did not act alone. There were other men who were involved in the. The abuse of young women. Do you agree with her? GROFF I'm sorry, Melania Trump could you say that again? I'm sorry. K. Sure. I'm not trying to trick you. She just said that Epstein did not act alone in the abuse of young women. Do you agree with that? Gruff I don't know. No, I don't know. K. So you disagree with her? I mean, to your knowledge, she's saying that he didn't act alone. To your knowledge, gets cut off by Grof. To my knowledge. Kanna Cuts her off. He acted alone. There's no one else. Grof yeah. Kanna I mean, it's your testimony under oath that you are aware of no one other than Maxwell or Epstein who in any way was involved in trafficking, abuse, assault, exploitation of young girls? Ms. Groff. That is correct. Kana. Okay, Ms. Ansari. Thank you. I'd like to start by asking some questions about Les Wexner. In particular, how Would you describe Mr. Epstein's relationship with Mr. Wexner during your employment with Mr. Epstein? Grof during my employment, yes, as business. Business professional. ANSARI and did their relationship change over time? GROF I knew that they needed. Mr. Wexner was no longer going to be a client of Mr. Epstein's around 2008. Ms. Ansari. So you said 2008. I think either 2007 or 2008 would we know that Mr. Wexner ended his relationship with Mr. Epstein. Mr. Wexner later said that the reason he did this is because he discovered that Mr. Epstein had stolen several hundred million dollars from him. Prior to 2007, were you aware of Mr. Epstein's efforts to take money from Mr. Wexner without his knowledge? Grof. No. And sorry. And when did you first learn of any allegations that Mr. Epstein was stealing money from. From Mr. Wexner? Gruff. Not until after 2019. And sorry. Okay, so not at all during the 2008. 2007 time period. Grof. No. Ansori. Did you ever talk to Mr. Epstein about Mr. Wexner's claims that Mr. Epstein stole money from him? Grof. No. Ansori. I just want to go back. Thank you for that. I just want to go back to some of the questions about what Redacted was asking about your knowledge. Of course. 2006, Mr. Epstein was arrested. 2008, he pleaded guilty. He told you it was blackmail. You continued to work for him until 2019. In hindsight, I understand your testimony, but in hindsight, is there anything that you saw or heard that would give you pause or that should have given you pause? Groff. In hindsight, we all have access to his personal emails. It's awful. It's horrendous. I feel terrible. I wish that someone had come to me and said something. I would have helped them. I would have gone to the authorities. As said, everyone seemed happy to be in his orbit. I actually thought of them as fortunate. I was happy for them that it seemed to me like their lives were going to be better than possibly the direction they were heading. Ms. Ansari. And you're specifically speaking to the staff or the women, the girls, Grof. Any of the victims, and especially the traveling assistants who I knew. It breaks my heart. Yeah. And sorry. I think just, you know, speaking really as a human being, I think it's hard to believe that after knowing that he was arrested and pleaded guilty to solicitation of a minor, being so close in his orbit for 10 plus years, that there was nothing that you would have seen being so intimately involved that should have given you pause. And I think for us, as we do our investigation and trying to get closer to the truth, it would be as helpful as possible to know if there's somebody else that we should interview or anyone else that you think we should talk to that would have seen or could guide us further to further answers. Gruff I want to be helpful. I did not see anything inappropriate. He was a master manipulator and kept me on the outside and it was, I can see, completely on purpose. He lied to me and I think he lied to everyone and I think he was an absolute professional and at keeping people separated and sorry. Thank you. Mr. Submaranium, we were just talking about scheduling earlier. Did you schedule any meetings with Jeffrey Epstein and other heads of state or high profile politicians? Grof Like Bill Clinton? Some. Ranium yeah. Are there any names that come to mind of high profile politicians that you scheduled meetings with? Jeffrey Epstein? Grof Yes. I mean, I know he met with Alan Dershowitz, he met Larry Summers. Whitcomb he's asking about politicians. Groff Right, but Whitcomb he's asking about politicians. Groff let's see, I remember him speaking with Senator Kerry. I remember him speaking with General Wesley Clark. I remember him speaking with in politics, George Mitchell, Governor of New Mexico. Sorry. Governor of New Mexico. Let's see, well, early on he spoke with Trump, but that was before he became president. Mr. Submarine what do you mean he spoke with Trump? Did you set up schedule meetings with him and Trump? Grof I would connect phone calls. That was it. Submarine Was that pretty frequent? GROF no. And you know what, I get it, but not one question about George Mitchell or Senator Kerry. All of it matters, not just your jihad against the president and the administration. Now of course that's part of it, but, but that can't be the slow focus. Ms. Groff I don't know. Do you have names that you want to. Subranian yeah. What about Prince Andrew? How often did you connect them? Groff oh yeah, he spoke with Prince Andrew. Subranian how often? Groff if Prince Andrew was in town, you know, let's say it would be the week he was in town, but after that he went back to the UK you know, it was infrequent. Mr. Submaranian what about Ehud? Barack Former Prime Minister Ms. Groff Ehud Brock Yes. Mr. Submaranean how often would they meet? Ms. Groff well, the same thing if Ehud was in town. If Mr. Brock was in town, they would meet for breakfast, lunch, dinner, have appointments, but when he was out of town it would be less frequent. Mr. Submaranian did you make appointments for any of his assistants or any of the girls around with other people? No. Mr. So it was always appointments for Jeffrey Epstein and someone else. It never veered from that. Grof Correct. So what about Gawaine Maxwell without Jeffrey Epstein? Would you ever set anything up? I didn't set up appointments for Ms. Maxwell. Did you ever arrange travel for Mr. Epstein and the girls? Groff his traveling assistants? Submarane yes. Groff. They would go on the plane with him. Did you arrange like? Like, did you handle their passports or view their passports in any way? Grof no. So you never saw their passports? Ms. Groff I may have seen a passport, a picture of a passport, but I never had anything to do with the passports. Mr. Submaranian. So you didn't arrange their travel? Just his travel. Grof. If an assistant needed to meet with him, say one assistant was going to leave and another assistant was going to come in, then I might make a commercial airline flight for that assistant. And so you would handle their I.D. is that correct? For making a commercial airline? Grof I never had their id. Submarane. You never handled id? Grof no. Subranian. Would you have to insert the birth date? Grof Insert the birth date. Sure. Submaranean. So you knew their ages of any of the girls gets cut off by Grof Yeah, I would know it at the time. Sure. Submaranian. Okay. Were any of them under 18? Grah no. Submaranian. Okay. So everyone where you handled their information was over 18? Graf yes. Submaranium. Okay, great. And then do you know who. You must have known who Barbro and Baumit was, Is that correct? Grof yes. Submaranian. And do you know what I'm referring to when I say BBB girls? Graf. I do. Submarine. What is your understanding of that? Ms. Groff There were Barbro's best and brightest. I think that's what the BBB stood for. They were the Stockholm School of Economics and they were, you know, very bright women that I think it was a social group or a mentoring group of hers. Submarine Are you aware of it? Looks like my time is up. I'll move on to the next questioner now. It's Melanie Stansberry. Ms. STANSBERRY hi. Ms. Groff. High. STANSBERRY. Thank you so much for coming in. We appreciate it. I'm Melanie Stansberry. I represent New Mexico. And as you are probably aware, New Mexico has passed a bipartisan truth commission that is trying to piece together the story of Zorro Ranch, what happened there to understand the abuse of both people who were brought to the ranch as well as locals who were recruited for massages. And it's completely bipartisan effort. And really our effort is really to get to the heart of it. And so I see on various flight records that you visited Zorro Ranch. Did you travel? You did not I never went to Zorro Ranch. Okay, I'm sorry. I thought you had. STANSBERRY did you schedule massages for Mr. Epstein while he was at Zorro Ranch? Ms. Groff it's possible. Nothing comes to mind, but it's possible. Stansberry Given that you were you had eyes on a schedule and you were arranging various activities for him while he was traveling, are there prominent New Mexico figures or people associated with New Mexico other than the governor, who you already mentioned that you scheduled appointments for, that you were aware of, that he was hanging out with? Ms. Grof no, I don't recall anybody except the governor. Ms. Stansbury so what was your understanding of why he was going to New Mexico? Ms. Grof that was kind of like vacation time for him. He didn't go very often. STANSBERRY about how often would you say he went? GROFF Once a year, maybe. It was his least visited location. STANSBERRY so did you not schedule appointments and meetings and massages for him while he was there? GROF I would, but I would say that it became a lot less I think it was more like a vacation, if you will. STANSBURY so who was the scheduler at that time? GROFF it would be whatever, whoever traveling assistant. Stansberry okay. Ms. Groff they would be there on the premise and he had a full staff there in ranch hands. Not that the ranch hands were scheduling appointments, but he did have a staff that lived there. I believe you're around. It was not a place that he went very often that I could see. Stan's very okay in terms of scheduling massages. In the earlier part of the interview today, you said, as I heard you say, that you schedule massages often on a daily basis for for Mr. Epstein. And you also said in your earlier statement that you also scheduled massages for others. Can you tell us of the people you schedule massages for other than Jeffrey Epstein? GROFF yeah, sure. I recall Kathy Rumler. He would he'd like to give spa cards as gifts and I know that he gave her a spa gift or treatments just to help her out. I think she was very busy. STANSBERRY can you pull up some more names because we have limited time here. GROFF she's the only one that comes to mind that I can recall. STANSBERRY did you ever schedule massages for men? GROFF it's possible. I don't recall a man that I would have scheduled a Massage for Stansbury okay, Moving on to your renumeration of your employment with Mr. Epstein. There's email correspondence in the files the DOJ released that indicate that at least once, if not multiple times in your employment you are paid through a loan that you arranged with Richard Kahn and it actually says in the correspondence that it was forgivable upon his death. GROF yes. STANSBERRY have you received any lump sums or loans that you can tell us the total amount of money you received from Jeffrey Epstein or his estate? Grof so in 2016 I believe my salary did change to a loan plus a small paycheck and the loan I just was told it was a new structure that that my salary would be and how it would be now. And in 2016 it was 100,000 and I believe it was the same for 2017, 2018 and then in 2019 it was 110,000 but as that happened the salary portion became less. STANSBERRY but did you receive any other large lump sums outside your salary? GROF no, except for maybe a bonus, the $10,000 bonus I mentioned in 2005 and it's possible I got some bonuses, but I think that 10,000 was the biggest one I ever received. STANSBERRY have you ever received any money from his estate after his death? GROFF from his estate after his death yes, When I retained my attorneys he had set up some sort of fund to pay my attorney's bills. The minute he died, that ceased to exist anymore. I don't recall how Stansbury cuts her off. How much money did you receive from the estate? Groff yeah, I don't recall. My attorneys would submit the invoices to the estate. STANSBERRY did you receive any other money aside from attorney fees from the estate? Groff recently? Ms. Whitcomb she set Aside from attorney fees. GROFF Aside from attorney fees. WHITCOM I think so. STANSBERRY I would like to hear the rest of your answer. Go ahead. GROF yeah, Aside from attorney fees, no. STANSBURY okay. And then I have one final question which is you are named as a co conspirator in the DOJ's investigation of the case beyond the original non prosecution agreement. Your name appears multiple times from 2019 through Maxwell's prosecution Did you ever receive any sort of plea agreement? Were you investigated by the DOJ? What's the status of the DOJ's investigation into you? GROFF there's no plea deal. I did sit with them voluntarily and answered all their questions and they deem me not guilty of being a co conspirator. STANSBERRY Was that put in writing somewhere? GROF I believe we asked them to do that, but they said that's not something they do. STANSBERRY well, if you're able to provide any correspondence to the committee, that would be very helpful. Thank you. Appreciate it. All right, folks, we're gonna wrap up right here. And in the next episode dealing with the topic, we're gonna pick up where we left off. All the information that goes with this episode can be found in the description box.