Latest / The Epstein Chronicles / Lesley Groff And The Transcript From Her Epstein Related Trip to Congress (Part 2) (7/2/26)

Transcript

Lesley Groff And The Transcript From Her Epstein Related Trip to Congress (Part 2) (7/2/26) · The Epstein Chronicles

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: What's up, everyone, and welcome to another episode of the
• 0:03
  Epstein Chronicles. In this episode, we're picking up where we
• 0:06
  left off with a Leslie Groff transcript from her interview
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  with congress Miss Toland. Thank you, mister Emmer. We've had
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  another member joined. Can she please announce yourself for the record,
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  Melanie Stansbury, New Mexico, first Congressional District. Mister Toland. The
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  time reads ten twenty and the majority of time will
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  begin now. The questions are being asked by Miss Tolan. Question.
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  Thank you for appearing here today. We appreciate your assistance
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  in the investigation. I'm going to go through a few
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  background questions, some might be repetitive from your opening statement,
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  just so the record is clear. Where were you born?
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  Answered Dallas, Texas? Question and what year were you born?
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  Answer nineteen sixty six? Question and can you briefly describe
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  your professional career for the committee? Answer my professional career
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  question yes, answer my first job question yes answer. My
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  first job was when I was in fifth grade. I
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  walked from elementary school to a little preschool to help
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  my mother teach dance to little girls that worked there,
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  not worked there, or went there. And then in seventh grade.
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  I believe I started working for my father, who was
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  an entrepreneur. He owned his own construction company, and my
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  sister and I would stack bricks and scrape windows of
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  the homes that he built. I also worked for Fridays
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  as a hostess, and I taught dance. When I was
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  in eleventh and twelfth grade drank college. I worked at
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  Chili's as a waitress. And then when I moved to
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  New Jersey, I worked for my first husband in his
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  office supply company. It was a commercial office supply company.
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  I was there as a customer service rep. And then
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  after that I worked for Nordstrooms I told Men's clothing,
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  and then after that I got the job with mister Epstein.
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  Question and what year was at? Answer? That was two
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  thousand and one? Question? And when did your employment with
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  mister Epstein end? Answer twenty nineteen question? And were you
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  working the same position that entire time? Answer? Yes, question
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  executive secretary? Is that correct? Answer? Executive secretary? Question? And
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  were there any breaks in your employment or was it
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  all the way through from two thousand and one to
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  twenty nineteen? Answer? I mean no official breaks except when
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  I was pregnant. I definitely want on maternity leave for
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  about three or four months. Question and are you currently employed? Answer?
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  I am not. Question do you currently receive any income? Answer?
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  I do not. Question. Tell me about the first time
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  you interacted with Jeffrey Epstein. Answer That would be on
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  the day I went for the interview. I first met,
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  I believe, with Miss Maxwell's assistant, and then I met
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  with Miss Maxwell, and then I met with mister Epstein
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  in his office and he interviewed me. It was rather
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  a quick, maybe like ten minutes. I sat in front
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  of his desk, and I noticed that the phone can
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  yup bringing and he would take the calls, speak briefly,
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  and then hung up and then speak with me again.
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  Question and this was also in two thousand and one.
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  Do you recall the month or the date on that? Answer?
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  I believe it was February. I believe. Question February two
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  thousand and one. Answer, Uh huh, Emmer. We've had another
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  member join. Can he please announce himself for the record.
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  Andy Biggs Arizona Brignac. Miss Groff, who was redacted Miss
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  Maxwell's assistant at the time, answers Leslie Groff questions by
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  Miss Tolan once again question and where did this interview
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  take place? Again? Answer at four point fifty seven Madison Avenue.
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  It was Helmsley Palace. Question and how did you receive
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  the opportunity to get the interview? Answer right. So, a
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  headhunter had called me for a position at the New
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  York Knicks. He had found my resume on monster dot com.
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  He had his own business. But unfortunately I couldn't get
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  to the city when he wanted me to, and by
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  the time I got in the position for the New
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  York Knicks was already taken. And once he met me,
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  he consulted with some other people in the office and
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  came back to me and said, you know, we might
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  have another position if you're interested. It'd be working for
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  one man who you know, you'd organize his life. He's
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  a socialite, he's a businessman. It sounded, you know, exciting,
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  and he asked me if I had time, that he
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  would call this gentleman and see if I could actually
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  go down for an interview that day, And amazingly he
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  was available, and I actually walked up to the Helmsley
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  Palace and that was the interview question. And you mentioned
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  speaking with mister Epstein and he was taking calls. What
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  was he like during the interview. Answer he was very
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  business like, I mean just business like and professional. Question
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  And what did he ask you during the interview? Answer?
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  Where I had worked before? So I let him know
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  about the office supply company and Nordstrums because those were
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  my most recent jobs. He asked me if I, you know,
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  was able to to use a computer, if I had
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  worked on a computer before, and you know I could type,
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  you know, things along those lines. Question do you recall
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  any other discussions you may have had with them? Answer
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  it so long ago. I think it was all just
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  very basic. Mister Emmer jumps in. We've had another member join.
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  Can you please announce himself for the record, Congressman Stephen
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  Lynch from Massachusetts A district back to Miss Toland asking questions.
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  Question and did you also interview with Glenn Maxwell? Answer?
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  I did her first? Yeah. Question And what was she
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  like during the interview? Answer? She was professional, friendly, wanted
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  to make sure kind of the same things. You know,
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  could I use a computer or type? Was I okay
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  with fast paced atmosphere? Wanted to know my background, you know.
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  Question did she interview with anyone else besides Maxwell? And
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  Epstein answer. I did speak with redacted at the beginning,
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  just a little bit, and it was probably more of
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  the same. She probably just introduced herself to me and
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  let me know a little bit about the office. Question.
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  And you said you became his assistant or executive secretary
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  about a week later. Is that correct? Answer? Correct question?
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  And did he offer you employment? Answer? I'm not sure
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  if it was him or miss Maxwell who may have
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  called it. Probably was miss Maxwell. That seems to make
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  more sense. Brignac was redacted leaving the office Groft. She
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  was not. She left about a year later after I started,
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  Miss Tolan. And you stated that your initial offer included
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  a fifty thousand dollars salary. Is that correct? Answer? That's correct? Question?
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  Were there any other benefits tied to the job, healthcare, housing,
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  anything like that? Answer? I believe healthcare was also offered.
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  Yes question anything else? Answer? Not of the time? Question
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  and you mentioned this, I believe in your opening statement.
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  But when you were given a job initially, were you
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  aware that you'd be scheduling massages for mister Epstein? Answer?
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  Not at the initial first I first spoke to him
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  about the interview, but after I started, Yes, that was
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  one of the things that was definitely spoken about, that
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  a massage would be part of his day, and it
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  was all treated very normally. Question and who told you
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  that answer? I believe it was Miss Maxwell redacted, probably redacted.
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  It was just known in the office, Miss Brignac. And
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  who is going to train you and had to schedule
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  these massages? Were you told at the beginning? Graf? Yes,
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  I was told at the beginning. I'm sure it was redacted.
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  And all of them, probably everybody took a hand in
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  helping me. You know, there was a lot to learn.
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  It was, you know, very fast paced, two phones on
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  my desk, it was overwhelming, Brignac. Did you find anything
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  about the massage scheduling to be odd when you first started, Graf,
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  Absolutely not. It was just like any other appointment. It
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  was like going to the gym. It was very normal. Timmins,
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  did you schedule, sorry, did you ever schedule any of
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  the other assistants for massages? Graf? No, Timmins, So everybody
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  that you schedule for a massage seemed like they possibly
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  were a massage therapist. Graff, I believe that. Yes. Back
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  to Tolin and what did you know about mister Epstein
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  prior to meeting him. Answer nothing nothing. I wasn't even
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  told who I was going to meet until I got there.
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  Question had you heard anything about him? Answer no question? Well,
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  next question, did anyone raise concerns about mister Epstein to you? Answer?
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  No question? And what were your first impressions of mister Epstein?
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  Answer that he was powerful, know a lot of important people,
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  professional business like super busy, stand offish. You know, we
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  didn't have conversations. It was just about business and what
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  he wanted accomplish that day. Did you immediately understand him
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  to be wealthy? Answer yes. Question did you know how
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  he acquired his money? Answer? I didn't know. I believed
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  he was a money manager. Question how did you come
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  to learn that? Answer? I think it was just talked
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  about in the office with all the other administrative staff. Brignac.
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  So when you accepted the job offer, what did you
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  understand about the position? Groff? I believed he was a
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  money manager, managed other people's money, Brignac. Was that told
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  to you in the interview? Groff? I assume it was
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  that he was a money manager. Tolan and how many
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  clients did mister Epstein have during the period of your employment? Answer? Well,
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  it's hard for me to say. I definitely know his
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  biggest client was Les Wexner, and then he had some
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  other clients as well. Can you name them? Answer? Can
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  I name them? I think it was Rothschild, you know
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  it was some other big names. He talked to Mord Zuckerman.
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  I don't know if he was a client, nothing's coming
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  to mind, but there were definitely important people calling. Question
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  did you ever communicate directly with the clients? Answer just
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  answering a phone call and passing the phone call through
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  to mister Epstein. Question and were they frequent visitors to
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  mister Epstein? Answered the business people question? Yes, sure, I
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  wouldn't say frequent every so often. Question and did you
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  ever conduct any work for any of those individuals? Answer?
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  No question. We're going to get into more specifics later,
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  but for now, just some general questions. Can you briefly
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  describe the extent of your relationship with mister Epstein? Answer sure,
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  I would say the relationship is hardly a relationship. It
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  was very very business professional. I was not close to
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  him whatsoever, and I do believe that's exactly the way
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  he wanted it. Mister Emmer, we've had another member joined,
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  Can she please announce herself for the record, yasimin and sorry,
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  Arizona's third district. Back to Brignac. Question the headhunter could
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  tell you or tell us a bit more about how
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  you came into contact with this person. Answer? Of course,
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  he called me because he saw my resume on monster
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  dot com. He had his own firm, and I know
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  his daan was Russell. I can't remember his last name,
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  but it was his own firm, and he said he
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  called me in for the New York Knick's job, and
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  I went to the city to meet him. Question and
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  what was the name of his firm? Answer? I don't recall.
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  I don't recall. It was on Madison Avenue, I believe,
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  and you know, I come to mister Epstein. Someone might
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  have been miss Maxwell redacted. Somebody hired his firm, Russell's
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  firm to find a secretary. Questions, so were other employees
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  of Epstein procured from this firm? Answer? I'm not sure.
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  Question you likely worked in assisting to recruit other assistants
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  and employees for Epstein? Did you use this firm? Answer?
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  Actually I did not. That was not under my heading.
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  I never contacted any head hunter firms, or was in
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  charge of recruiting. Do I recall interviewing some women when
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  he wanted I was actually thinking he wanted to replace me,
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  but perhaps it was, you know, he just wanted another
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  executive assistant. But that was one time. But I don't
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  know where exactly what that firm that came from? Question
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  and did you work for mister Epstein until he died
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  in twenty nineteen? Answer? No, not until he died. I
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  actually resigned prior to that question. Why answer? It was
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  time for me to resign. I discussed it with, you know,
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  my family, and I wanted to leave. Question and what
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  was the date of your resignation? Answer? I don't know
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  the exact date. I believe it was July of twenty nineteen. Brignac.
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  What was the reason you left? Answer? What was the
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  reason I left? I didn't understand what was going on,
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  and I didn't want to be with them, associated with
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  them anymore. Brignac? What took place that brought those feelings
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  of confusion? Groth? Well, he was arrested, and that was
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  that was scary to me. I didn't like that. I
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  didn't want to be associated with him. I didn't understand
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  what was going on, Miss Toland. Question, did you have
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  those same feelings after his first arrest in two thousand
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  and six? Answer? That was a different time. Actually, he
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  explained to me that he was being blackmailed and it
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  was all this big false and I believed him, and
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  it appeared to me everybody in the office felt the
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  same way. He was very good at manipulating, very good liar.
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  We can all see that. And at the time I
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  actually felt sorry for him. I thought, Wow, this must
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  be really difficult to be a wealthy person and not
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  know who you can trust because everybody just wants your money.
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  Question did you ever doubt what he told you or
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  ever think the allegations were true? Answer? No, I did not.
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  All right, folks, we're gonna wrap up right here, and
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  in the next episode dealing with the topic, we're gonna
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  pick up where we left off. All the information that
• 13:33
  goes with this episode can be found in the description box.