Dem
47
GOP
53
It is sometimes hard to tell if the House Oversight Committee is trying to find out the truth about the many crimes Jeffrey Epstein and his buddies committed, or to hide them. Now something has popped up that chairman James Comer (R-KY) might deal with, and that a possible future Democratic chairman in January may aggressively pursue. If the current ranking member, Rep. Robert Garcia (D-CA), becomes chairman, he will undoubtedly pursue it to the max.
For many years, Epstein had an administrative assistant, Lesley Groff, who basically ran his life. She scheduled his meetings and travel, paid his victims in cash, and much more, while his focus was on preying on minors. Groff testified before Congress, under oath, on June 9. She stonewalled completely and said all she did was manage his calendar and his plane and knew nothing about what he was up to. She also said she had never met any of his victims. Here is the transcript of her testimony. Although it runs to 230 pages, she said nothing that was not already known. Despite working very closely with Epstein for almost 20 years, she saw nothing, heard nothing, did nothing. She was as pure as the driven snow.
Now the problem. Groff swore, under oath, that she never met any of Epstein's victims. Six Epstein survivors have now come forward and said Groff lied under oath because they clearly remember meeting with her. Lara Blume McGee, who was abused from 2001 to 2003, remembers meeting Groff twice at Epstein's NYC townhouse. Lisa Phillips said: "Of course I've met her in person." Sharlene Rochard said Groff knew very well she was a minor because she had Rochard's passport for planned international travel. One anonymous woman said that Groff filled in her application for a passport and certainly knew her date of birth. Another anonymous woman said she went to a private Catholic school and Groff saw her in her school uniform many times because Epstein liked to see girls in a school uniform. Groff surely knew that almost all high school girls, except some seniors, are minors.
Marina Lacerda remembered Groff personally handing her hundreds of dollars in cash in a long white envelope. Always in $100 bills; never in $20s, $10s or $5s; only in $100s. She also remembers Groff asking for new girls, what they looked like, where they were from, and how old they were.
In effect, the women are accusing Groff of perjury, a federal crime. As every prosecutor learns on Day 1 on the job, you first go after the little fish and make them squeal (or whatever fish do under pressure), then take it from there. Comer is asking the victims to sign formal affidavits in which they accuse Groff of lying under oath. Maybe he is hoping they will all refuse, but if they do sign, then what? He may try to punt, but a future Democratic chairman could refer Groff to the D.C. prosecutor for follow-up. Perjury is a D.C. crime as well as a federal one. If Groff is convicted, then she would be under a lot of pressure to sing like a fish (OK, a canary) to get a lighter sentence. She might name names of other perpetrators. After working closely with Epstein for almost 20 years, she probably knows a great deal and might be willing to blow the whistle to stay out of prison.
We imagine Comer will do his best to push all this under the rug, but that might not be so easy. The base cares a lot about Epstein and Groff probably knows as much about him as anyone not named Ghislaine Maxwell. The Democrats on the Committee are going to do everything they can to put the squeeze on Groff, and Comer may have a hard time fending them off, especially if some of the survivors sign affidavits stating their version of the story and it directly contradicts Groff's sworn testimony. (V)