The Kissinger Table

September 23, 2013. Lesley Groff — Jeffrey Epstein's executive assistant — sends the morning briefing:

"Kissinger is free starting evening of Sept. 23rd."¹

This reminder appears in 27 documents across the DOJ release. Twenty-seven times. Calendar alerts, schedule notes, forwarded reminders — all tracking the availability of one man: Henry Alfred Kissinger, former Secretary of State, former National Security Advisor, architect of U.S. foreign policy for half a century.

Epstein's people weren't just aware of Kissinger's schedule. They were managing it.

The Full Daylink

That same morning briefing lays out Epstein's September 23:²

Reminder: Joshua Cooper Ramo back in NY today Reminder: Kissinger is free starting evening of Sept. 23rd Reminder: Barak is NOT available today btwn 5-6pm today

Then the appointments:

• 9:00am — Breakfast with Ariane de Rothschild and Ehud Barak
• 1:00pm — Snacks with Hankon Gunderson
• 2:00pm — Meeting with Ben Black
• 3:00pm — Meeting with Alan Dlugash, Rich, Darren, Harry
• 8:30pm — Dinner at Mort Zuckerman's, hosted by Mort and Terje Rod-Larsen, with the President of Mongolia

Breakfast with a Rothschild banking heir and a former Israeli Prime Minister. Dinner with a media billionaire and a sitting head of state. And in the margins, two notes: Kissinger is available tonight. Ramo is back in town.

The next day, Groff's calendar asks: "Does Ehud want Kissinger China guy at breakfast on 24th?"³

The "Kissinger China guy" is Joshua Cooper Ramo — and we'll get to him.

The Broker, Not the Guestlink

Most people who knew Kissinger were proud to be in his orbit. Epstein operated differently. He wasn't collecting Kissinger stories for cocktail parties. He was assessing who else had access — and whether he could manage the pipeline.

February 18, 2013. Epstein to Boris Nikolic, Bill Gates' science advisor:

"does bill know kissinger well?"⁴

Five words. No context. No pleasantries. Epstein is running an audit: does Bill Gates have direct access to Kissinger, or does that channel run through me?

This is broker behavior. Not a fan asking for an introduction. A man mapping who controls which relationships — and whether his position as the intermediary is secure.

The Guest Listslink

Kissinger's name appears on Epstein's guest lists like a recurring character in a play no one else was invited to watch.

September 2011 — Groff's reminder for an upcoming event: "sean parker, terje, marvin, axel. kissinger, ian. miller, abdullah, don deitsch lara lerner."⁵

Sean Parker, co-founder of Napster, early Facebook president. Terje Rod-Larsen, former UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East. Abdullah — likely King Abdullah II of Jordan. And Kissinger. First names, last names, no titles. Everyone on the same list. Everyone equal at Epstein's table.

Then the dinner to end all dinners. May 19, 2014. Groff to Epstein — "Possible Dinner Party?"⁶

The guest list:

Two former Treasury Secretaries. Three bank CEOs. A former Prime Minister. A former Secretary of State. A former central bank governor. A billionaire industrialist. Two Hollywood directors. A magician. All at one table. All at Epstein's table. May 2014 — six years after his Florida conviction for soliciting a minor.

The Pritzker Trianglelink

January 19, 2013. Epstein texts Tom Pritzker — heir to the Hyatt hotel fortune, chairman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, steward of the Pritzker Architecture Prize:

"come to the sun. where are you next week, wed dinner with woody, dick cavett, lewis black bobby slayton"

Pritzker's reply, the next morning:⁷

"In NY now (P Prize jury). Next week in Davos. Kissinger is flying w me and got a message from ehud that he will be there."

Read that again. Pritzker is flying to the World Economic Forum in Davos. Kissinger is on his plane. Barak will be there. And the person receiving this itinerary is a convicted sex offender in New York who just invited him to dinner with Woody Allen.

Two months later, Epstein describes Pritzker to an unknown contact:⁸

"Tom Pritzker. — like family, : the chairman of CSIS. also pritzker prize and trekking in himalayas. probably worth a meeting for you."

Then, in the next message, two minutes later:

"as you may know I used to be a member of the trilateral commission. so i have some strong views on benefits and burdens of the various orgs."

Epstein brokering access to Pritzker. Pritzker sharing a plane with Kissinger. Kissinger on the Trilateral Commission with Epstein. The triangle doesn't have an outside.

The Business Planlink

Everything above could be dismissed as social proximity. Rich people know rich people. Powerful people attend the same dinners. Henry Kissinger had thousands of acquaintances.

But acquaintances don't leave their business plans in your filing cabinet.

EFTA00584255 — found in DOJ Dataset 9 — is a full corporate structure document for Kissinger China NewCo (KCN):⁹

"A new corporation, Kissinger China NewCo (KCN) will be formed that will contain the China-focused business operations of Kissinger Associates."

The structure:

• Henry Kissinger — Executive Chairman. "Final say on all client selection matters and on operational decisions."
• Joshua Cooper Ramo — Chairman and CEO. "Responsible for daily operation of the firm."
• Profit distribution: 50% to Kissinger in year one. 40% in year two. 25% in year three. 10% in years four and five.
• Goal: "the leading advisory firm on China-related commercial matters."
• Ownership: 100% Ramo initially, eventually shared among partners.
• First-year plan: Form an advisory board, hire a President based in China, pursue licenses to operate across jurisdictions.

This isn't a dinner invitation. It isn't a calendar note. It's a corporate formation document for a private firm spun out of Kissinger Associates — found in the personal files of a man who would later be charged with sex trafficking of minors.

Why did Epstein have this? The document doesn't say. But it exists in his archive alongside 510 other Kissinger-related documents. Alongside 27 calendar reminders tracking Kissinger's availability. Alongside schedule notes orchestrating breakfasts between "the Kissinger China guy" and a former Israeli Prime Minister.

The China Guylink

Joshua Cooper Ramo — the man named as CEO of Kissinger China NewCo — wasn't just Kissinger's business partner. He was part of Epstein's intellectual circle.

January 27, 2014. Epstein sends an email to three people: Joi Ito (then-director of the MIT Media Lab), Reid Hoffman (co-founder of LinkedIn), and Joshua Cooper Ramo:¹⁰

"a new view of deception, is exploitation, it has an effect on more than the deceived, it affects the players in the environment."

A convicted sex offender, the head of MIT's most prestigious lab, a billionaire tech investor, and Henry Kissinger's China advisor — emailing each other about the theory of deception. Four months after an earlier Skype call on the same subject.

September 2013 — the same month as the "Kissinger is free" calendar blitz. Joi Ito texts Epstein from Cody, Wyoming:¹¹

"Cody, Wyoming with Joshua, Reid, Herb Allen and others. What's up?"

Herb Allen — the man behind Allen & Company's Sun Valley Conference, the annual gathering known as "billionaires' summer camp." Joshua (Ramo), Reid (Hoffman), and Herb Allen — together in Wyoming, casually reporting their location to Epstein.

The "Kissinger China guy" wasn't just on the breakfast schedule. He was in the group chat.

What the Table Tells Uslink

Henry Kissinger died on November 29, 2023, at the age of 100. He was eulogized as a titan of American statecraft — controversial, ruthless, but unquestionably consequential.

The Epstein documents add a footnote the eulogies didn't mention.

Kissinger appears in 511 documents and 81 email threads in the DOJ release. His name sat on the Trilateral Commission roster directly alongside Epstein's.¹² His personal schedule was tracked by Epstein's staff. His breakfasts were brokered by Epstein's assistant. His business partner was in Epstein's intellectual circle. His corporate formation documents were in Epstein's files.

Epstein didn't admire Kissinger from across a ballroom. He had Kissinger's calendar, his China deal, and his CEO on speed dial. He brokered Kissinger's breakfast meetings with a Rothschild heir and a former Prime Minister. He assessed Bill Gates' access to Kissinger the way a switchboard operator checks which lines are connected.

The story of Kissinger and Epstein is not a story about celebrity proximity. It's a story about operational control. Who holds the calendar. Who structures the deal. Who sits at the center of the table and decides who eats.

Epstein held the calendar. The documents say the rest.

Sources & Documentslink

All documents referenced below are from the U.S. Department of Justice Epstein document release or House Oversight Committee files, searchable on Unsealed.

1. EFTA02127216 — Calendar reminder: "Kissinger is free starting evening of Sept. 23rd." Appears across 27+ documents. View →
2. EFTA00383158 — Lesley Groff to Epstein, Sept 23, 2013. Full day schedule: Rothschild breakfast, Kissinger availability, Mort Zuckerman dinner with President of Mongolia. View →
3. EFTA02127827 — Calendar reminder: "Does Ehud want Kissinger China guy at breakfast on 24th?" View →
4. EFTA01902241 — Epstein to Boris Nikolic, Feb 18, 2013: "does bill know kissinger well?" View →
5. EFTA00428822 — Lesley Groff guest list reminder: "sean parker, terje, marvin, axel. kissinger, ian. miller, abdullah." View →
6. Dossier #25538 (EFTA01924576) — May 2014 dinner planning. Guest list: Kissinger, Schwarzman, Blankfein, Leon Black, Summers, Geithner, Staley, Barak, Blavatnik, Rod-Larsen, Frankel, Woody Allen, JJ Abrams, Blaine. View →
7. EFTA00692994 — Tom Pritzker to Epstein, Jan 20, 2013: "Kissinger is flying w me" to Davos. View →
8. HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_027222 — Epstein iMessages, Mar 29, 2017: "Tom Pritzker. — like family" and "I used to be a member of the trilateral commission." View →
9. EFTA00584255 — Kissinger China NewCo full corporate structure and business plan. View →
10. Dossier #1346 (EFTA01941718) — Epstein to Joi Ito, Reid Hoffman, and Joshua Cooper Ramo, Jan 27, 2014: "a new view of deception, is exploitation." View →
11. Dossier #1286 (EFTA02574270) — Joi Ito to Epstein, Sept 10, 2013: "Cody, Wyoming with Joshua, Reid, Herb Allen and others." View →
12. EFTA01082667 — Full Trilateral Commission North American Group membership roster. Both Kissinger (Lifetime Trustee) and Epstein listed. View →

This article draws on the Secret Societies & Elite Power Networks research dossier, compiled from 1.3 million full-text documents, 73,000+ emails, and the complete knowledge graph in the Unsealed database.