News summary produced by Claude AI
Kathryn Ruemmler, who served as White House counsel under Barack Obama, testified before a House oversight committee regarding her relationship with Jeffrey Epstein as part of an investigation into the convicted sex offender. Democrats emerged from the initial questioning expressing skepticism about the completeness of her account. Representative Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the oversight committee, told reporters that “it is difficult to see how she’s being completely truthful in there with the answers she’s given the committee.”
Ruemmler’s name appeared thousands of times in records related to Epstein that were released by the justice department earlier this year. Her communications with Epstein, which occurred between 2014 and 2019—years after his guilty plea to Florida prostitution charges involving a minor—revealed she accepted luxury gifts from him, used informal terms of endearment in emails, and advised him on legal matters. She was also listed at one point as a backup executor of his will, according to reporting. In her opening remarks, Ruemmler characterized Epstein as a “masterful liar” who used her to legitimize his standing, and she said she would never have engaged with him had she known his true character.
Ruemmler stated in her testimony that she first met Epstein in 2014 while restarting her legal practice after government service. She said Epstein initially approached her about legal work related to a donor-advised fund with Bill Gates, though that arrangement did not materialize. She acknowledged being friendly with Epstein and accepting some gifts from him, saying she saw no reason not to accept them. Ruemmler also noted that she came to understand Epstein had pleaded guilty to prostitution-related offenses years earlier, though she said he told her he believed the women involved were adults.
House oversight chair James Comer stated that the “most concerning” aspect of Ruemmler’s communications was her apparent effort to “rehabilitate his image after he was convicted of solicitation of a minor.” The testimony was conducted behind closed doors, with the committee expected to release a transcript later. Ruemmler resigned from her role as chief legal officer at Goldman Sachs effective in June, though the bank subsequently asked her to remain in an advisory capacity—a decision that drew criticism from Democratic lawmakers Senator Elizabeth Warren and Representative Raja Krishnamoorthi, who sought information about what Ruemmler had previously disclosed about her Epstein relationship to the firm.