Transcript of #BecauseMiami: There's Something About Jeffery Epstein New

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In a bombshell announcement for a high-profile South Florida politician, the House Oversight Committee said Thursday it's asking the Justice Department to investigate sexual misconduct allegations made by Jeffrey Epstein's former assistant Sarah Kellen testified behind closed doors last month she worked for Epstein and accused 3 men of sexual assault, one of them former Miami Beach Mayor Philip Levine. He served from 2013 to 2017. In transcripts released Thursday, Kellen told lawmakers Levine forced himself on her at a house in Saint-Tropez. Epstein and Maxwell were in the house but not present when the assault happened. They rented a house in Saint-Tropez one summer, and Philip was good friends with Ghislaine, and he came to stay with us in the house, and Jeffrey and Ghislaine had gone to bed, and Philip and I were still up. There was me and Philip, and then there was like this wooden kind of shack on the beach, and just like grabbed my hand and pulled me into the shack, basically forced himself on me, a spokesperson for Levine said in a statement. Nearly a quarter century ago, our client had a brief intimate encounter with another consenting adult. Any allegation suggesting otherwise is not true.

There's always a Miami connection. Sometimes there's multiple Miami connections. And Roy, this story about Phil Levine that broke in recent weeks is pretty wild because I am not a degree of separation away from him. And I feel like if there is a former Miami— in this case, Miami Beach— mayor who was implicated in the Jeffrey Epstein case I need to be out there in the interest of full disclosure. Roy, in 2014, at the world premiere of the ESPN 30 for 30, The U Part Two, which we held at the Colony Theater on Lincoln Road in Miami Beach, I was surprised on stage during my introduction. You'll see I'm wearing— I borrowed that jacket from Uncle Luke, my Hurricanes starter jacket. But I was surprised on stage by then Miami Beach Mayor Philip Levine. And this happened.

There's no greater treasure, and he's very important to all of us because he keeps everyone honest, keeps everyone thinking about what's right for the people. And on behalf of the city of Miami Beach, it's my honor to recognize Billy and Rack and Tour with a key to our city.

Still gonna tweet about you, dude. Yes, you heard me at the end as he was escaping to his back. I said, I'm still going to tweet about you, dude. And I kept that promise because in 2019, I discovered when Gawker published what they call Jeffrey Epstein's Little Black Book, it was really just his phone book. I looked inside and found that Phil Levine had more entries, more listings in Jeffrey Epstein's phone book than almost any single other person. There was 13 different numbers, email addresses, I don't even know, addresses, his home, his work. There was his butler, his assistant, his secretary, his housekeeper, his driver. It was a crazy list of 13 different listings. I broke that story on the Twitter machine. It was picked up by Miami New Times. Phil Levine at the time put out a statement denying knowing Jeffrey Epstein at all. But this becomes the story, these kind of, from 2019 to present day, these evolving denials from Phil Levine. And to that end, Miami New Times, really even more so than any other periodical or news outlet out there, has been covering this. Scott McClendon is a Miami New Times staff writer who's basically been on the Phil Levine-Jeffrey Epstein beat as, as of late.

Scott, can we go through a little bit the evolution of this story? Phil Levine's first denial back in 2019, what was that story?

So first, he tells our staff writer Alex DeLuca— the quote is, I think I met him possibly 2 or 3 times times, but briefly, maybe over 15 years ago at events. Don't remember ever giving him my full contact info, but possibly did give him my contact card. Um, that was just days after Epstein died by suicide in Manhattan. Um, then he says, when I read the book, the little black book, I was also surprised. I truly just don't know, was his first response to us.

That is 2019. Then you gotta flash forward because Phil Levine kind of retires from the politics and the spotlight. He has failed run for Florida governor in a Democratic primary. He comes in, what, like third, fourth? It was really just kind of pathetic. He like lit $25 million of his own money on fire in this weird narcissistic ego play where he didn't even win the city of Miami Beach. I think most of the precincts in Miami Beach, you know who won that? Andrew Gillum. Remember Andrew Gillum?

Yes.

Is he here? Is Andrew here? Look under the desk. See Andrew, honey.

Andrew, are you here?

No, he's not here. So Phil kind of retires off to a ranch somewhere and we don't hear much from him. But then a funny thing happens circa 2025. Remember Ghislaine Maxwell had— did an interview in prison with Todd Blanch, who is now the interim, I guess you'd call him attorney general, but he's the personal attorney to the president of the United States, Donald Trump. So this was before Ghislaine was transferred to a much more lux accommodations in the Bureau of Prisons. But during this interview, she revealed a stunning piece of information, which is that the way that Ghislaine Maxwell met former President Bill Clinton was through her close friend Philip Levine. So get this, according to this interview, Philip Levine introduces Bill Clinton to Ghislaine Maxwell, who introduces Bill Clinton to Jeffrey Epstein. So Phil Levine is apparently, according to Galen, the connection between Bill Clinton and Jeffrey Epstein. So, so now what, Scott? Now what is— what does the former Miami Beach mayor have to say about this?

Now, this was in, um, this was July 2025. He now tells us that he was introduced to the president coming out of the White House and became friendly with him— or I'm sorry, that Maxwell said this, that Levine introduced him. And Levine tells us that that's not accurate, that he told us in a previous text that he never introduced Maxwell or Epstein to the president. Says that's simply untrue. This is public information and easily attainable. I've tried being helpful, but based on my personal knowledge, unfortunately, there's nothing I can contribute further to further your efforts. And he follows that up with some Wikipedia, Wikipedia page links that show some pictures of Epstein and his relationship with Clinton as his proof that he couldn't have introduced them. Then he also says that he was just a friend with Maxwell, him and his wife. But there's an issue with that because he wouldn't be married until years later. So, right.

He may not have even known his wife or have met the woman who would become his wife. And nobody asked him about that. Per se. I mean, he just sort of offered— he just throws his wife kind of under the bright line there where she's like— he's like, oh, and by the way, you know, I only knew Ghislaine because she was friends with my wife. But again, not married for like, I mean, 10, 15 years or more. I mean, like, there's a long stretch between the time— well, although I guess we didn't entirely know what era yet Phil Levine knew Ghislaine Maxwell, but basically says, I don't know why you drag your wife into this, even if it was true, which it doesn't appear to be. From a chronological perspective, why you'd wanna kind of blame your wife for your connection to this woman. But also, there was a book published in 2008, uh, by author Carol Felsenthal called Clinton in Exile. And one of the things that she wrote at the time, which probably didn't mean as much then in 2008 as it does now, but that in addition to Ron Burkle, Clinton spends much of his downtime with Miami businessman Philip Levine, billionaire money manager Jeffrey Epstein, and movie producer Stephen Bing.

This is like the only mention, I think, of Jeffrey Epstein and Philip Levine in that book. But obviously, it, like I said, makes a lot more sense and means a lot more now than it did then. So even then, there was the connection in a post-presidential Bill Clinton, a connection between Philip Levine, Jeffrey Epstein, and Bill Clinton. Now, a month later— so this transcript that we were just talking about, came out in December of 2025, which is when the Miami New Times wrote about it. But then literally like a month later, the Epstein files, as it were, I mean, whatever of them they felt like releasing, Pam Bondi felt like releasing, and Kash Patel felt like releasing, came out in this searchable format. So we went online and we searched— who do you think we searched for, Roy? Not Phil Levine. Well, I mean, after we searched ourselves, just in case. Yeah, we were making sure he searches. Hashtag not in the files. Roy, you are in the files.

Roy!

I'm not in there, am I?

We searched for Philip Levine, who turns up, what, 600, 700, 800 times or something in various emails with Ghislaine Maxwell and with Phil Levine. But no Roy Bellamy. No.

Roy!

No, and we even checked—

Rowr!—

just to be sure. Now, Phil Levine's at this point month-old, barely month-old denial from December of 2025 is disintegrating before our eyes. What do we learn from these Epstein files, emails between Phil Levine, Ghislaine Maxwell, and of course, Jeffrey Epstein, that kind of turns the previous denials, all the previous denials over the previous 5, 6 years on their head?

So there's lots of it, like dozens, scores of emails between Levine and Epstein and Levine and Maxwell, and then between the three of them too. In those emails, it shows a friendly relationship between Levine and Epstein, including visits to each other's houses. And then emails between Levine and Maxwell show a more than friendly relationship. She called him nicknames like Polyp and, oh, Vile One, and complimented his old-fashioned approach to courting in one email. They also talked about him being, quote, hung like a horse.

Vile. I thought that was me. I thought you You are a vile little man. Oh, vile one.

Yes.

I like pet names, though. Like, okay, so here's the thing, Roy.

Polyp.

By the way, for clarity, Scott, this is like at the turn of the century, right? In the early zeros.

Right.

This would have been before Levine was mayor.

Right. And before he was married. These are effectively two single consenting adults engaging in a flirtatious email relationship, if not more, which is entirely their business. If it's a consensual sexual relationship between consenting adults, that's not really of interest.. But then there are some— we have to remember, the denials are the problem, Roy. He kept saying, I don't know Jeffrey Epstein, I never met Jeffrey Epstein, I don't know Ghislaine Maxwell, she was friends with my wife. All of that is total utter bullshit in light of this evidence. But also, what are his exchanges, Philip Levine's exchanges, like with Jeffrey Epstein himself via email?

With Epstein, right after he got out of jail the first time in that Palm Beach jail, he sends him a letter congratulating him for making it through this, this, this tough time. Says that he got a bad rap. He's happy that this is behind him. This, this, you know, this trifle of, of child prostitution or soliciting prostitutes is behind him now.

To be clear, Roy, that he was in jail in Palm Beach. This was this ridiculous sweetheart deal that they cooked up for him to avoid federal charges for, you know, sex trafficking and raping underage girls. This was a solicitation of prostitution and solicitation of a minor for prostitution. So in response to that, Scott, Philip Levine is telling him, you're a great man, thank God you've— what did he say?

He said, hi, I just want you to know that I'm happy that everything has come to a positive ending for you during Tough times, happy endings, happy endings. Great guy. And I know all good things will come to you going forward.

You are a great guy.

And hope we can catch up soon. Your friend, Philip.

Do we know if they ever caught up? I want to know if this bromance continued to brew. We don't know. Now what? Now Phil Levine's got to have a new story, right? Ghislaine's not friends with his wife. Ghislaine and him are sort of at least amorous from afar, at a bare minimum. Call him Polyp. My precious Polyp. My sweet—

You.

You are a vile little man. And not knowing Epstein. Now, what's the story? What's the statement from Phil Levine? This is now circa January of this year, right?

This was January 30th. He did not actually respond to us that time. We have his cell phone number. So we called, texted him, sent him some emails. No response to that.

Oh, he's got nothing to say now. Okay. And then this is January. Now let's go to June. We're all caught up. Just a few weeks ago, Sarah Kellen, the longtime personal assistant to the late sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein— she's a bit of a controversial figure. You know, she has tried to avoid the impression that she was somehow complicit in Jeffrey Epstein's crimes like Ghislaine Maxwell was, and portray herself as an abused and groomed victim of Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell. And she just testified behind closed doors to the House Oversight Committee. That transcript was eventually released, and in it she accused 3 people, prominent people, including Philip Levine, of sexual assault. And now the House Oversight Committee has referred that complaint to the Department of Justice for a criminal investigation. This onion keeps peeling or unpeeling and unpeeling. So now what's the story, Scott, from Phil Levine?

Now it's again reaching out to his cell phone number. We get a call back from a spokesman this time. That's the first time that's happened. He's been sticking up for himself until now.

So now he basically has a crisis management team or somebody.

A PR manager, at the very least, uh, tells us, nearly a quarter century ago, our client had a brief intimate encounter with another consenting adult. Any allegations suggesting otherwise is not true.

So effectively admits that there was something sexual or physical that occurred with Sarah Kellen, but now it's a he said, she said, effectively, right? That happened a quarter of a century ago. I'm sorry, he says nothing. He's silent, or the crisis manager, PR person, is silent on the ever-revolving and deteriorating denials and explanations, false explanations of the nature of his relationship with Ghislaine Maxwell and Jeffrey Epstein.

No statement on how the response to the relationship has changed over time as more evidence has come out showing how close they really were.

Scott McClendon, I imagine you're going to stay on this story because it seems to be, uh, never-ending and ever-evolving.

Absolutely.

Read Scott McClendon at miaminewtimes.com. Thanks so much for being here, Scott.

Yes, thanks for having me.

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Let go of me! Let go of me!

No!

I have a right to understand this process!

Chaos breaking out at a Miami-Dade commission meeting. A woman dragged out in handcuffs.

Stop it!

Camila Ramos pulled from the chambers. She and another arrested. At issue on the agenda, whether to modify an agreement that's been in place for years dealing with immigration detentions in Miami-Dade. That issue was deferred.

I am about to help you, but you need to let yourself be helped.

And so board chair Anthony Rodriguez warned the audience that if they chose to speak, they'd forfeit the right to do it at a future date. But Ramos kept asking questions and ignored orders to sit down.

Let her speak! Let her speak! Eventually, she was forcibly removed from the chambers. All while outside, the pilot— don't grab my bike because you're gonna go to jail. Ramos booked at TGK, charged with battery on an officer. That was exactly a year ago this week, last June 26th. 2025. 9 months later, those criminal charges of battery on a police officer and resisting an officer with violence against Camila Ball were dropped by the Miami-Dade State Attorney's Office. Now, this was a commission meeting, a county commission meeting, and Camila and dozens of other people were there to speak on this issue of the 287, which we've talked a lot about on this show. These are the contracts, Roy, that local law enforcement agencies or state law enforcement local law enforcement agencies contract or have a pact with ICE to effectively do the federal law enforcement's job for them, or in concert with them, not really the job of local law enforcement. And in fact, a lot of people argue that it's damaging that local law enforcement does this because it's— it discourages people, victims of crimes, from coming forward if they're concerned about their documentation or their immigration status.

Status. And so a lot of people have been trying to engage their government. Miami-Dade County is crazy. When you see me go to public comment, I'm usually in a city or municipal government building like City of Miami. The county is wild and really opaque and really shady. And you have 13 commissioners and $13, $14 billion budget and a lot of fiefdoms and a lot of crazy rules about how you have to sign in and what you're allowed to say and not allowed to say. And it's very confusing for for people who are going, especially it's intimidating for people going to engage their government for the first time. And because this was such a heated, contentious issue and there was a lot of people in attendance at this meeting, there was a lot of law enforcement from the Miami-Dade Sheriff's Office on the scene. And Camila is joining us now. I understand this was your first time at a meeting like this, attempting to participate in your own government. Is that right? And, and is it as I described, it's a little bit mysterious and almost scary, right? And difficult to navigate.

Yeah, absolutely. It was my first time and I really didn't know what to expect. What to expect. It was my first time at any commissioner meeting, not just on a county level. And there's a lot of protocols and getting accustomed to just what's happening in the room. And it was a, you know, a little disorienting for sure.

So before we get into the fallout from this, what actually happened? It seemed like there was a lot of confusion. You were maybe attempting to get some clarity from the chair chair of the commission, Anthony Rodriguez, and then all hell seems to break loose.

Yes. So at that time, the chair was trying to communicate to us that the item was being deferred. It wasn't super clear why it was being deferred. And so there was a lot of commotion and like murmuring in the room and confusion. And there were some people from the audience who were asked, who weren't speaking formally, public hearing hadn't opened, but they were asking questions to the dais and getting clarity. And I wanted to ask, well, why was it deferred? Because it wasn't clear to me in that moment. And that would've helped me decide whether I would speak or not because he was asking whether people, the few dozen people that were there to speak, whether they were gonna speak. And it was really confusing also because if anyone spoke that day, no one would ever get to speak again. Public hearing would have been had. And so you have a few dozen people who are all mostly individuals who are trying to decide, well, if I speak, will I ruin it for the others if everybody else doesn't want to speak? Or if I don't speak and somebody else speaks, then have I lost my moment to speak?

And so I thought, well, maybe if I know why it was being deferred, I can better adjust of whether I'm gonna speak or not. And in that moment, I asked it to the dais, like others were in the room. And I was so nervous because it was like a new environment for me that I said it actually quite sheepishly. I was like, why was it deferred? And the chair didn't even hear me. He didn't even, you know, He was answering another question, but there was a man in front who was in, you know, a blazer, and he was 2 or 3 feet away from me. And so he heard, and then he looked at me and pointed to the exit door and said, you need to leave. And I was very confused because I hadn't done anything. And actually, even afterwards, when studying the rules of decorum, And obviously, you know, I went back and I was like, what, what rule did I break?

What?

And, and, and I didn't break any rule. And actually that individual happened to be a sergeant at arms and they are charged with taking orders from the chair. So he actually wasn't even authorized to eject me. They only eject people after the chair says that person needs to leave. So it was, um, very confusing and it felt in that moment, it felt wrong. It felt like this doesn't really make sense. I'm not being boisterous. I'm not applauding. I'm not breaking any rule of decorum. And I'm really just here to learn and to have my voice. And it felt really, really wrong, especially when they began to put their hands on me.

And you were, as we saw and heard, were manhandled and dragged, forcibly removed. Why didn't you just get up and leave, or did you not have an opportunity to because you had quite a few people actually with their hands on you at that point?

Well, you know, there's a few moments of the event. So the first bit was when he's first, you know, ejecting me and he begins to put his hands on me and I, you know, I bring my arm back to myself because I, you know, I'm like, who is this? He's a guy in a blazer. I thought it was some sort of clerk or something.

You didn't understand that it was law enforcement necessarily?

Yeah, there was no— there was no like identification. There wasn't a badge, there wasn't an ID that said, you know, he didn't say, I'm, you know, a police, you have to go. So I was very confused. I thought it was just a regular person, like a clerk or something, putting their hands on me, which I thought was very wrong. And then My thoughts in that moment was like, it feels like my rights are being violated and I don't consent to this and I don't consent to these hands on me and I don't consent to being ejected without doing anything wrong, really.

So.

Right.

You're saying no, no one told you what you had done. Like when someone gets arrested, they say this is what you're being charged with or this is what you're doing wrong or this is— and you weren't clear about what it was that you were being being manhandled over.

Correct.

And I kept asking, I said, what's, what's happening? Like, I have a right to understand not just what was happening on a deferral basis and on the item basis, which I also have a right to understand, but like, I have a right to understand why you're putting your hands on me and why you're ejecting me out, which you're not telling me, you're just doing it. And so once they dragged me up the aisle, I was like, all right, this is enough, I can And I said that, and I said, "I can walk, I can stand up, I'll walk out with you." A man's voice from behind me said, "You can walk?" I said, "Yeah," or from around me. It was very disorienting. And then in that moment, there was a new person who had come in, and it was a woman. She had this sort of, like, white satin top with a blazer, and she said, "No," and she grabbed my leg. And once she did that, They all grabbed me again. And just before this, I was saying, I'm going to take a breath. I said, can I take a breath? Can I take a breath?

I'm going to center myself and I'm going to get up and walk, which is, you know, to me, like some of the least aggressive or like I was really trying to defuse the situation and de-escalate.

De-escalate. I listen, I don't want to take too much time with the blow-by-blow because we have a lot of ground I still want to cover in just a couple of minutes. So you've never been arrested before. You have no criminal record?

No, no, no, no, not at all.

So 9 months later, these charges are dropped. But that obviously is small solace in terms of the tumult, you know, that this kind of put your life into, because it turns out once all the charges are dropped, the only crime you committed was attending a public meeting, an attempt to engage your government during public comment. And in some confusion, there was melee, as we heard from this video. There was also like kind of continued force or violence from police officers against other people? Because it sounded like some of the other members of the public attempted to speak out for you, obviously chant, let her speak, let her speak, or attempted to engage law enforcement to say, what are you doing? Why are you doing this? Let her go. I want to ask you this, though. Yes or no. Did anyone on the dais, any of the county commissioners, the mayor, anybody who was there, did they speak up for you? I mean, you might not have heard it at the moment, but looking back on the video, did anyone say, hey, tranquilo, like, let's— maybe this is an overreaction to law enforcement, like maybe we just need to, like you said, take a breath, take a beat, let cooler heads prevail?

Did anybody speak up on your behalf amongst the elected officials who are supposed to take a sworn oath to the Constitution? Did any of them attempt to intervene?

No, no. And when I mean, I when I rewatched the video of the meeting, no, no, there was— they were confused and I could, you know, there was like, what's going on? But they didn't say that, like, that, you know, I think in an ideal world, right, the chair would have said, what's happening? Let's assess this situation. I'm the only one who can authorize, you know, an ejection.

Well, to be fair, the sergeant at arms, law enforcement, is there to maintain the rules of decorum. I don't know exactly what the—

actually, no, the chair is the person charged with maintaining decorum. The sergeant at arms are exclusively charged with taking orders from the chair.

Okay.

Those are the rules.

I'll have to take your word for that because I'm not aware of that chain of command. I mean, law enforcement in a public building during a public meeting has obviously certain obligations and responsibilities to maintain order.

Yeah, if somebody's breaking the law.

Right.

Somebody's breaking the law, of course.

Right. You're saying in violation of some sort of decorum or Robert's Rules of Order or commission rules. You're saying that has to be prompted by the chair, which makes sense. But I want to— before you go, I want to talk a little bit about the impact that this has had on your life, because clearly there is an effort here, I think, overall to send a message to this community to not participate, to discourage people from participating, attending meetings, speaking out. Speaking truth to power. And they use people like you, unfortunately, as an example to send that message that if you come here, you may wind up physically, you know, manhandled, arrested, and have your life turned upside down. Can you talk a little bit about the impact this has had on you personally and your family?

Yeah, of course. So of course there are physical damages. I've had bruises and open wounds all over my— bruises all over my body. I had, you know, a gash on my chin and on my arm. I've got 3 hernias in my neck, and the stress of going through the criminal process has affected my thyroid. And so a lot of physical issues, of course, psychoemotional. I've been diagnosed with PTSD, and I'm working through that now. And then significant financial hardships as well. My criminal lawyer was, you know, $25,000, and that was just the start of it because I'm a, I'm a real estate agent and And over 30% of my business comes from cold online leads. And so what do they do? They, they Google my name and then they see these violent charges and my leads dropped significantly. And my number one, the routing website into my agent profile has been the Miami Herald. So that affected my family financially and we basically Airbnb'd our house so that we wouldn't lose our mortgage. Got this Airstream and now are on the road until, you know, things pick back up again and I can rebuild. So yeah, some pretty meaningful changes, but I think if I look back, I wouldn't have done anything differently.

I think it's important to show up, and I'm in a very privileged position to be able to take those hardships. Ultimately, I think we all have to continue to show up, and the more that more of us do, the less that this happens to us as individuals.

And for those listening who aren't watching, Camila is streaming live from her Airstream on the road with her family elsewhere outside the state. And last thing, you have started to write about this experience, I guess, as I gather from reading some of it, your writings myself. It might be a form of therapy or maybe to deal with the PTSD and sort of reliving the trauma for you. Can you tell people where they can find find your writing about this?

My Substack is milamos.substack.com. And today also a wonderful newsletter, Gloria, is publishing my work as well. And I'm sharing this story and it is therapeutic, but it's also, I think, important for people to know the state of affairs and what's happening so that we can continue to come together and do something about it.

Milamos is M-I-L-A-M-O-S. Substack.com. Before we go, 60 seconds. What would you have said at public comment at the Miami-Dade County Commission meeting had you not been dragged out by your limbs and hair?

So what I was going to say was that law enforcement and public safety requires trust and that this between our sheriff's office and ICE corrodes that trust because it— when, when we partner with these agencies that are acting above the law, law and lawlessly, it supports that. And it then confuses the lawlessness with our own law enforcement. And I think it's really important for us as communities to be able to trust our law enforcement and to be able to trust our systems.

Roy, is that what you call irony? If that's what Camila was trying to say or what she would have said, and then is that what Alanis Morissette would call ironic?

Is that what—

That's exactly what I was going to say. Alanis Morissette. Yeah. Right. Is it real irony or is it like Alanis Morissette irony? It's like an unfortunate coincidence rather than actual irony. Either way, I'd say it's pretty fucked up is what I would say.

Thanks.

Thanks. You're welcome. You're welcome, Roy. Camila Ball. Find her at Mila Most. That is Mila with one L. MilaMost.substack.com. Thanks so much for being here and good luck to you and your family. Cocaine.