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The Epstein Chronicles
The Sarah Kellen Congressional Transcript (Part 1) (6/11/26)
00:20:36
Sarah Kellen told Congress that she was not a willing architect of Jeffrey Epstein’s operation but one of his victims, claiming Epstein groomed, abused, isolated, and controlled her for years. She described herself as trapped inside his world through...
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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 started with the Sarah Kellen testimony that she gave before Congress back in May. And like usual, there's a whole accounting of who's at the interview. We're going to skip that. We're going to start right away with the questions. Ms. Brignac is doing the questioning and Sarah Kellen is doing the answering. When I say question, it's Ms. Brignac, and when I say answer, that's Sarah Kellen Vickers. And if somebody else jumps in, I'll notate that. So let's dive in. Ms. Brignac, we're ready to go on the record. This is a transcribed interview of of Ms. Sarah Kellen conducted by the House Oversight Committee and Government Reform under the authority granted to it pursuant to House Rule X. According to House Rule X grants the committee broad jurisdiction for the committee to conduct investigations of any matter at any time. This interview was requested by the chairman, James Comer, as part of the committee's investigation into the circumstances and subsequent investigation and into the crimes of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, the operation of sex trafficking rings and ways for the federal government to effectively combat them, the ways in which Mr. Epstein and Ms. Maxwell sought to curry favor and exercise influence to protect their legal activities and potential violations of ethics rules related to elected officials. Can the witness please state her name for the record? Sarah Kellen. Ms. Brignac. Thank you. I want to thank Ms. Kellen for appearing here voluntarily today. My Name is Brittany Brignac, and I'm senior counsel for Chairman James Comer. Under the Committee on Oversight and Government Reforms rules, you're allowed to have counsel present to advise you during the interview. Do you have counsel present with you today in a personal capacity? Kellen? Yes. Brignac. Will counsel please identify themselves? The record. And to this, Sarah Kellen's lawyer. Ms. Hamm speaks up. Kimberly Hamm. Morrison Forrester. Another lawyer for Kathleen Cassidy. Morvillo Abramowicz. Another lawyer for Mr. Uriarty. Carlos Uriarty. Morrison Forster. Ms. Brignac, for the record, starting with the chairman, can the majority members introduce themselves? Then ranking member, then. Then minority members. James Comer. Clay Higgins. Andy Biggs, starting with majority staff. Krish Namorthy, James Walkinshaw, starting with the majority staff. Can the additional staff members please introduce themselves with their name, title and affiliation? Ellison Tolan. Who is the counsel for Chairman James Comer. Jack Emmer, Chief counsel for investigations for Chairman Comer. Mr. Har. Nice. Will Har. Nice. Professional staff member for Chairman Comer. Hannah Cathay, professional staff member for Chairman Comer. Billy Grant, deputy chief counsel for investigations for chairman comer. Mr. Ashworth. Daniel Ashworth, General counsel for Chairman James Comer. Peter Spector, Director of Oversight for Chairman Comer. Jessica Collins, communications director for Chairman Comer. Mallory Koger, Director of operations and Chief clerk, chairman comer. Ms. Vineyard. Ashley Vineyard, Deputy staff director, Chairman Comer. Emily Firebend, counsel for Chairman Comer. Redacted. The next few are redacted. So we're just going to pass that on to Ms. Brignac asking the questions. Ms. Kellen, before we begin, I'd like to go over the ground rules for the interview. The questioning will proceed in rounds. The majority will ask questions for up to an hour, and then the minority will have opportunity to ask questions for up to an hour, if they choose. To the extent members have questions for the witness, they'll be propounded during their side's respective rounds. The clock will stop. If you need to confer with counsel, your counsel is speaking. And when members or staff are speaking, during the opposing sides rounds a question we will alternate back and forth and until there are no more questions. Do you understand, Kellen? Yes, Brignac. There is a court reporter taking down everything I say and everything you say to make a written record for the interview. For the record to be clear, please wait until the staffer questioning you finishes each question before you begin to answer. And the staffer will wait until you finish your response before proceeding to the next question. Further to Ensure the court reporter can properly record this interview. Please speak clearly, concisely, and slowly. Also, the court reporter cannot record nonverbal answers such as nodding or shaking your head. So it's important that you answer each question with an audible verbal answer. Minority exhibits will be identified alphabetically. Do you understand, Kellan? Yes, Brignac. We want you to answer our questions in the most complete and truthful manner possible, so we'll take our time. If you have any questions or do not fully understand the question, please let us know. We will attempt to clarify, add context to, or rephrase the questions. If we ask about specific conversations or events in the past and you are unable to recall the exact words or details, you should testify to the substance of those conversations or events to the best of your recollection. If you recall only part of the conversation or event, you should give us your. Your best recollection of those events or parts of a conversation that you do recall. Do you understand, Ms. Kellen? Yes, Brignac. Although you're here voluntarily, you're required by law pursuant to Title 18 of the US Code, Section 1001, to answer questions from Congress truthfully. This also applies to questions posed by congressional staff in the interview. Do you understand, Kellen? Yes, Brignac. If any time you knowingly make false statements, you could be subject to criminal prosecution. Do you understand, Kellan? Yes, Brignac. This includes knowingly providing false testimony, but also stating that you do not recall or remember something when you in fact, do. Do you understand, Kellan? Yes, Brignac. Furthermore, you cannot tell half truths or exclude information necessary to make statements accurate. You're required to provide all information that would make your response truthful. A deliberate failure to disclose information can constitute a false statement. Do you understand, Ms. Kellen? Yes, Brignac. Is there any reason you're not able to provide truthful testimony in today's interview? Kellan? No, Brignac. Please note that if you wish to assert a privilege over any statement today, that assertion must comply with the rules of the Committee on Oversight and and Government Reform. Pursuant to that committee, Rule 16c1 states for the chair to consider assertions of privilege over testimony or statements, witnesses or entities must clearly state the specific privilege being asserted and the reason for the assertion on or before the scheduled date of testimony or appearance. Do you understand, Kellan? Yes. Now her lawyer jumps in. Can I just. Very quickly, just so the record's clear, we've previously shared with the committee staff there are certain topics this is a voluntary interview that she's prepared to discuss today. She'll talk about her own questions pertinent questions regarding her own victimization, but not questions about other person's victimization. The reason for this include her own mental trauma, her ability to withstand sustained questioning on these points, legislative purpose and pertinency, concerns about the private rights of individuals and including my client, and the protection of her constitutional rights. And I know that we've discussed it with the majority and minority staff, but I just wanted to make sure that everyone in the room understood our condition. Mr. Ashworth, for the record. Thank you. As previously stated, the committee will ask all questions it deems relevant to the committee's investigation and hopes the witness will answer those questions as she sees fit. Thank you, Ms. Brignac. Ordinarily, we take a five minute break at the end of each hour of questioning. But if you need a longer break or a break before that, please let us know and we will happily accommodate it. However, to the extent that there is a pending question on the record, we would ask that you finish answering the question before we take a break. Do you understand? Kellan? Yes. Brignac do you have any questions before we begin? Kellan? No, I don't have any questions. BrynJack. Great. And I believe we had another member join us. Can you please identify yourself for the record? William Timmin, S.C. brignac. Thank you. I understand that you have an opening statement that you want to read for the record. Kellen. Yeah. Brignac. You can do so now. Kellen. Thank you. Chairman, ranking member and members of the committee. My name is Sarah Kellen. I work for and was sexually and psychologically abused by Jeffrey Epstein for over a decade. It's important for the committee to understand before I begin that the woman sitting in front of you today is not the woman I was supposed to become. The years that have shaped my adult life were not my own. During those years, I was trapped inside Jeffrey Epstein's world. He grew me, sexually and psychologically, abused me, controlled me, manipulated me, dominated me, and gaslit me until I could no longer tell which thoughts were mine and which were his. It was like living with a permanent virtual reality headset on. I was reminded every day how powerful he was, how influential he was, and that to turn on him or disobey him would mean losing everything. My job, my home, everyone I knew in the world, even my life. Understanding who I was before meeting Jeffrey Epstein and Glenn Maxwell will help explain why I was the perfect target for them. I was raised in a religious cult of Jehovah's Witnesses in a small community in North Carolina in a faith where women did not speak unless spoken to. We were not allowed to question men. In fact, we were required to submit to and obey men. We were discouraged from thinking for ourselves. At the age of 13, an 18 year old man began pursuing me. At the time, I was flattered. I thought I was falling in love with him. Only now do I understand what was happening. I was being groomed and molested and then raped. I dropped out of high school at the age of 15 to prepare to marry this man, which I did at the age of 17. To me, I had no other choice. It was the only way to reconcile the fact we were having sex outside of wedlock, A grave sin in the eyes of Jehovah God. At the time, I thought it was love. Only much later did I come to understand what had happened to me was wrong. My husband took me to Hawaii, thousands of miles away from my family and friends. Three years later, he served me with divorce papers at an airport. I signed them without a lawyer because I did not know I was allowed to have one. He then disfellowshipped me from the Jehovah Witnesses. Excommunicated without anyone ever having questioned me. I still don't know to this day why I was disfellowshipped. From that day forward, everyone who is Jehovah's Witness is no longer allowed to speak to or associate with me, including my entire family. My parents, my siblings and all of my friends. From one day to the next, I was completely alone in the outside world, with no tools to navigate this world outside of the religious cult in which I had been raised. I was 21 years old, far from where I grew up, stuck on an island in the middle of nowhere. No college degree, no family, no friends, no money, nowhere to live. The only person who offered me shelter was a photographer 20 years my senior who demanded nude photographs and daily sex from me in exchange for a roof over my head. When I couldn't afford to pay rent. I had no other choice to survive. I began to disassociate during these encounters, a coping mechanism that will stay with me for many years. During this time period, I went to Neiman Marcus makeup counter in Honolulu. The makeup artist introduced me to a famous New Yorker hairdresser who was there promoting his new hair care line. He said he wanted me to model in a hair show for him in Maui. When I flew to Maui, he had me staying in his hotel room. There was no hair show. He sexually assaulted me that night. He then said he wanted to introduce me to his friend Jeffrey Epstein, who he said was his scout for Victoria's Secret. Jeffrey flew me to LA for a casting in his shutters on the beach hotel room. Although he did not sexually assault me that day, he made me think he was a model scout and told me to undress for him, which I did. Months later, while working at a hotel, a young woman I work with became friends with me and knew I was desperately trying to leave Hawaii. She said that she knew a couple in New York looking for an assistant and asked if I would be interested in the job. The couple was Jeffrey Epstein and Glenn Maxwell. Unfortunately, I got the job. The first time Jeffrey Epstein assaulted me. I was on Little St. James, his private island. This was not a vacation destination. It was isolation. He told me he was taking me on a tour of the island. He drove me on a four wheeler to his bedroom. He locked the door behind us. He approached me and lifted up my shirt. To this day, I can't remember exactly what happened. In the minutes that followed, my mind shut down. I've since learned in therapy that this is called disassociation. It became how I survived. There were many events during my time working with Jeffrey and Ghislaine that my mind shut down and doesn't allow me to remember the traumatic details. I was then flown to Palm beach in Jeffrey Epstein's private 727, then to New York City. I was surrounded by unimaginable luxury. Private jets, designer clothing, lavish homes, the largest townhouse in Manhattan, I was told. After a week of traveling with them, I was sent back home to Hawaii. About a month later, Ghislaine called me and told me to come to Palm beach right away and start working. They bought me a flight for the next day and I immediately started training, traveling and working for them 247 with no pay. I was too afraid to even ask how much I would earn, terrified of jeopardizing my only chance at survival and stability. I have read articles online labeling me as Ghislaine Maxwell's lieutenant. That is a gross misrepresentation. I was a literal indentured slave. In fact, she even referred to me as her slave and her minion. I had zero power or authority. I was there only to serve and submit. Only after Jeffrey confirmed that I would submit to his sexual abuse did he begin paying me. After months of unpaid labor, he instructed me to draw him a bath on the island, then ordered me to undress and get in with him. And he said, the job is yours now. You just have to keep it. He then pulled me onto his bed and made clear that keeping the job required only after submitting to his sexual abuse, did the paychecks begin? 25,000 a year for working non stop on call 24, seven months at a time with no days off. I understood the math exactly. I was being paid in part to be raped. I was on call to him every hour of the day. I won't catalog every assault because it would take too much time, but I want this committee to know that the abuse happened on average, on a weekly basis and at times was violent. It included Jeffrey entering my room in the middle of the night and putting his fingers inside me, waking me up from sleep. It included the occasion in Palm beach when he trapped me in the gym by lowering the metal hurricane shutters, blasted the music so loud so no one could hear, choked me, and violently raped me. The abuse continued while Jeffrey was supposedly serving his Florida jail sentence. He even skyped me from a computer inside the Palm beach county stockade and ordered me to undress for him on camera. As a result of the years of abuse, constant sleep deprivation, and coercive control inflicted by Jeffrey and Ghislaine, psychological conditions hampered my ability to identify my own emotions, differentiate reality from Jeffrey's, manipulated reality, and crippled me from making decisions or asserting agency when it mattered most. Today, I continue to suffer from major depressive disorder, panic disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, and complex ptsd, specifically as a result of Jeffrey Epstein's sexual assaults and psychological abuse. I know some of you are probably wondering why I didn't leave. I had nowhere else to go. I had no money, no family, no education, and no sense that I deserved any better. This is why it's so important for people to be educated on how grooming processes work and how trauma bonds form. I have only just begun to understand this myself over the past few years of therapy. I can provide more information how I was groomed, but I will not speak for others and how they were groomed. Jeffrey made certain I knew that defying him would cost me my life. He knew everyone in the highest echelons of society and everyone catered to him. He knew everyone in the fashion industry, academics, finance, government, powerful world leaders, dictators, and everyone in between. From the beginning, he showed me that he was more powerful than basically anyone in the world. I sat in a room in Cuba with him and Fidel Castro. I was taken to Asia and Africa with President Bill Clinton, including a lunch at the home of the Sultan of Brunei. I was at Princess Beatrice's 18th birthday party at Windsor Castle and at the desert home of Sheikh Mohammed in Dubai. I sat across the table From Ehud Barak in Israel. Jeffrey was able to fool and manipulate the brightest minds in the world. US victims didn't stand a chance. I was a high school dropout from North Carolina. I was a silent body in a chair. Besides men who started and ended wars, I understood completely that if Jeffrey could walk into those rooms, he could walk into any room in the entire world. He could find me anywhere on earth. He could also control any law enforcement agency. That proof came in 2007. Two FBI agents tried to approach me and another young woman in St. Thomas Airport. Jeffrey told us to stay where we were, walked over and spoke to the agents himself, came back 10 minutes later, said let's go. And the agents were gone. Later that same year, the United States government placed me into Jeffrey Epstein's federal non prosecution agreement as a name co conspirator. I was not told this was happening. I was not asked about it. No one from law enforcement ever spoke with me, heard my side of the story, ever asked me a single question. I did not even know my name was in that agreement until after it had been signed and released to the public. The federal government of the United States branded me a criminal and a secret deal with my own abuser without ever once speaking to me. From the day Jeffrey Epstein found me Until July of 2019, no one from the federal government, or any government for that matter, ever contacted me about anything. Not once. I've spent every year since trying to live underneath that piece of paper. I finally extricated myself from Jeffrey Epstein's grasp in 2013 when I became engaged to a man who gave me for the first time in my life, a piece of footing outside of someone else's control. I was finally able to leave. The abuse finally stopped. But leaving was not the same as escaping. I am almost 47 years old. My entire life since the age of 22 has been dominated by Jeffrey Epstein's abuse and manipulation and the aftermath of it. I am here today to answer your questions, to dispel rumors and conspiracies and to tell you the truth. I hope and pray that I am the only sexual abuse survivor that has come to before you in this manner. Nobody else who has been through the hell that Jeffrey Epstein put us through should ever have to endure the pain of recounting it again publicly. All of us lose more of our lives, our health, our privacy and mental well being each day. Jeffrey Epstein remains a topic of discussion. I hope this brings us one step closer to closure for all of us survivors. Thank you for listening. Alright folks, we're going to wrap up right here. And in the next episode, discussing 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.