Kathryn Ruemmler, who served as White House counsel during the Obama administration, is scheduled to testify before the House Oversight and Reform Committee on Wednesday regarding her relationship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Ruemmler's name surfaced thousands of times in sealed Epstein records released by the Justice Department earlier this year under the Epstein Files Transparency Act. The discovery prompted her to announce in February that she would step down from her position as chief legal officer at Goldman Sachs, effective June 30.
Correspondence between Ruemmler and Epstein spanning 2014 to 2019 revealed a relationship far more familiar than previously disclosed. She accepted luxury gifts from him, used terms of endearment including "Uncle Jeffrey" and "sweetie," and at one point appeared on a list as a potential executor of his will. In emails, she offered Epstein guidance on responding to inquiries about his criminal convictions, including his 2008 guilty plea in Florida on charges related to procuring a minor for prostitution.
One 2015 message showed Ruemmler telling Epstein that she considered "getting you some peace with respect to all of this legal shit" important to their friendship.
In a June opinion piece for the New York Times, Ruemmler acknowledged that Epstein had contacted her in 2014 after she left the White House about a potential connection to Bill Gates. She stated she failed to recognize how Epstein was exploiting her professional reputation.
"What I did not appreciate at the time and now deeply regret is that Epstein used me, along with many others, to legitimize his standing," she wrote. She added that she would have taken action had she seen evidence of harm to women or girls.
Her legal team released a statement this week saying she welcomes the chance to testify. A spokesperson noted that Ruemmler shared a client with Epstein during her time as a criminal defense attorney and stressed that she had no knowledge of any ongoing criminal activity on his part.
The closed-door hearing will result in a transcript to be released later, following the committee's standard practice with previous witnesses.
Ruemmler's situation took another turn when Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon asked her to remain at the bank in an advisory capacity after her resignation announcement. The decision drew fire from Democratic lawmakers, including Senator Elizabeth Warren and Representative Raja Krishnamoorthi, who sent Solomon a letter in June requesting details about what Ruemmler had disclosed regarding her Epstein ties before joining the firm.
The lawmakers noted that the Justice Department documents suggested Ruemmler maintained a significantly more extensive relationship with Epstein than she had previously acknowledged publicly. Goldman Sachs declined to comment on the matter.
Author James Rodriguez: "Ruemmler's calculated pivot from 'I didn't know' to 'I should have known' rings hollow given five years of cozying up to a convicted predator while serving as a bank's top lawyer."
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