Obama's handpicked White House counsel called a convicted child sex offender "Uncle Jeffrey."
Now the DOJ has the emails – and Congress has her under oath.
What she told Congress has lawmakers from both parties walking out shaking their heads.
What the Epstein Files Show About Ruemmler and Goldman Sachs
Kathryn Ruemmler was Barack Obama's White House counsel and Goldman Sachs's top lawyer. She stepped down from Goldman in February after the DOJ released emails detailing years of warm correspondence with Jeffrey Epstein. Goldman quietly brought her back in an advisory role anyway.
Democrats on the committee came out of the closed-door session saying she was not being forthcoming. Republicans said the same.
She testified before the House Oversight Committee Wednesday, calling Epstein a "masterful liar" who used her to "legitimize his standing." Her opening statement claimed she saw no criminal conduct, would have reported it if she had, and that Epstein was never actually her client.
None of that squares with what the DOJ released.
The files show Ruemmler first met Epstein in 2014, just months after leaving the Obama White House. He pitched her on a donor-advised fund involving Bill Gates – a project that never materialized – then promptly delivered a paying client: the Bank Edmond de Rothschild, which Epstein told her had a federal prosecution problem with the Justice Department.
She took the engagement and billed the bank through 2020, creating what she later admitted were "substantial dealings" with Epstein across those years.
Throughout that stretch, Epstein sent gifts. Court documents and DOJ-released emails show Ruemmler received designer handbags, a coat, spa visits at luxury hotels in Washington and New York, gift cards, and flowers routed through his household staff. She acknowledged the gifts in warm thank-you messages – addressed to "Uncle Jeffrey."
In 2019, when the Miami Herald's investigation into Epstein's lenient 2008 plea deal was drawing national attention, Ruemmler did not pull back.
Emails released by the Trump administration show her sending Epstein revised language to use against critics who questioned how a convicted sex offender escaped federal prosecution with 13 months in a Florida jail – and daily work-release privileges for much of that sentence.
Someone running a PR operation for a child sex offender is not a victim of deception.
James Comer Called Out the Core Lie in Ruemmler's Testimony
House Oversight Chairman James Comer identified the most damaging piece of Ruemmler's record – not the gifts, not the client referrals, but the fact that she "tried to rehabilitate his image after he was convicted of soliciting a minor."
She knew his record. She scrubbed it anyway.
Ruemmler's defense rested on a claim that she trusted the "resolution reached by federal and state prosecutors" in 2008 as a proportionate outcome. That argument falls apart for anyone who understands what that resolution actually was.
Epstein received a non-prosecution agreement shielding him from federal charges and pleaded guilty to a single Florida state count.
Ruemmler built her career as a federal prosecutor. She knew exactly how rare and how irregular that deal was – because prosecutors across the country were still talking about it a decade later.
The Epstein Files Investigation Is Far From Over
Ruemmler is the 18th witness to appear before the House Oversight Committee's Epstein investigation.
The list already includes Bill Gates and Bill Clinton. Billionaire Leon Black – who told Congress he "knew Jekyll, not Hyde" while reportedly paying Epstein more than $150 million in financial planning fees – has been subpoenaed and is set for a formal deposition September 3.
Epstein did not stumble into these circles. He built access to Obama's White House counsel, Goldman Sachs's top lawyer, Microsoft's founder, and Wall Street's biggest checkbooks by trading something each of them could use: clients, cash, and the appearance of legitimacy. Ruemmler gave him six years of it.
For six years she worked his press strategy, took his client referrals, and helped draft his public defenses. Then she sat before Congress and called herself the one who got hurt.
James Comer is not finished. Leon Black sits down September 3.
- Ariel Zilber, "Goldman Sachs' ex-top lawyer tells Congress that Jeffrey Epstein used her," New York Post, July 15, 2026.
- "Goldman Sachs' Ruemmler to face House over Epstein ties," CNBC, July 15, 2026.
- "Lawmakers cast doubt on Kathryn Ruemmler's testimony about Epstein ties," Anchorage Daily News (AP), July 15, 2026.
- "Goldman Sachs' top lawyer accepted gifts from 'Uncle Jeffrey' Epstein, documents show," Reuters, February 3, 2026.
- "Goldman Sachs lawyer says she didn't represent Epstein. But she gave him a wealth of legal advice," MS NOW, February 11, 2026.
- "Goldman Sachs' top lawyer Kathy Ruemmler to resign after emails show close ties to Jeffrey Epstein," CNBC, February 12, 2026.
- Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, Letter to Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon, June 9, 2026.