Kathryn Ruemmler has one of the most gold-plated resumes of any lawyer in America. She was an associate counsel to President Clinton, an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the District of Columbia, and the deputy director of DOJ’s Enron Task Force. She was a partner in Los Angeles-based Latham & Watkins.
In 2009, Ruemmler joined the Obama Administration as principal associate deputy attorney general. She then became President Obama’s White House Counsel. In 2014, she apparently was considered for the Attorney General post vacated by Eric Holder, but withdrew her name from contention and instead joined Goldman Sachs, one of the world’s most profitable businesses. In 2021 she became Goldman’s Chief Legal Officer and General Counsel, and serves as a member of Goldman’s Management Committee.
So one would assume that she is a person of remarkable ability, extraordinary dedication and–call me naive–sterling character. Maybe so. But it turns out that, alongside all her accomplishments, she was a good friend of Jeffrey Epstein. She has been embarrassed by the current dump of Epstein documents, as the New York Post reports:
Goldman Sachs’ top lawyer Kathy Ruemmler signed emails to Jeffrey Epstein with “xoxo” and wished him a happy birthday — prompting a crude joke from the disgraced financier about naming his penis, newly released Justice Department documents show.
Ruemmler, who served as White House counsel under then-President Barack Obama before becoming Goldman’s chief legal officer, emailed Epstein on his 62nd birthday in 2015: “I hope you enjoy the day with your one true love :-)”
This was seven years after Epstein pled guilty to soliciting prostitution from a minor and was sentenced to 18 months in prison. It was four years before Epstein was arrested on sex trafficking charges in New York, followed rapidly by his suicide. Ruemmler displayed a remarkable degree of intimacy with Epstein; his “one true love” was his unit.
Epstein replied: “they say that men usually gvie [sic] a name to their penis, as [it] would be inappropriate to make love to a total stranger.”
Ruemmler, who exchanged thousands of emails with Epstein in the years between his 2008 conviction for procuring a minor and before the extent of his alleged sex crimes came to light in 2019, mockingly shot back: “Hard to believe that there is still an open question about whether men are [the] inferior gender.”
I can’t imagine having an email exchange of that sort with anyone, let alone a casual acquaintance, as Epstein allegedly was. There is more:
The latest batch of emails show that Ruemmler helped Epstein coordinate a response when ABC News was preparing a segment on “Good Morning America” featuring one of his accusers, Virginia Roberts Giuffre.
Ruemmler wasn’t Epstein’s lawyer, but was just helping him on the PR front as a friend. Ruemmler helped Epstein prepare a document relating to the charges against him:
In an email dated April 23, 2015, Ruemmler wrote: “Some suggested edits in the red-line attached.” The attachment was not included in the Justice Department’s document release.
Epstein invited Ruemmler to his infamous island (the odd symbols in the emails are apparently an artifact of the hurried way in which the Department of Justice produced them):
The emails show Epstein offering to fly Ruemmler to his private island in the Caribbean.
In a January 16, 2017 message, Epstein wrote: “If you like, i can have a pl=ne pick you guys up in st lucia on sat, fly you to the island. =nbsp; and you can go home from there on sunday, if it is not too much trav=l.?!”
Ruemmler replied: “Off the grid all day with t=e tobacco farmers in NC. Our flight Sunday back to NY is from St Luci=. Can we take a day trip to the island on Sat or is it too far?”
Days later, the two exchanged messages about a Daily Mail article reporting that former President Barack Obama had visited Richard Branson’s private island.
“Should we invite him to meet you and lisa on my isla=d saturday. . ?” Epstein wrote, adding in another message that his island was “Much nicer than bransons. . more private=as well.”
Ruemmler responded: “If that came out, it would really be a scandal! Can you =magine what the Daily Mail would do?”
***
In another message, Epstein wrote: “im planning on p=cking you up sun as early as you like,” referencing a copy of her passport.The visit does not appear to have taken place. On January 28, 2017, Epstein wrote: “I fully understand lisa position. . not wrong.”
Asked about her thousands of Epstein emails, Ruemmler’s spokesperson blew off the question. You can do that if you work for Goldman Sachs:
Jennifer Connelly, a spokesperson for Ruemmler, told The Post: “Ms. Ruemmler has done nothing wrong and has nothing to hide. Nothing in the record suggests otherwise.”
Her spokesperson’s comment notwithstanding, I am pretty sure Ruemmler would like to hide her exchange with Epstein about his p*nis, among other things.
I wrote here about the vapidity of Jeffrey Epstein’s friends. Titans of industry, university presidents, famous Communists (Noam Chomsky), they all come across in their private email correspondence as junior high school adolescents. It is seriously disillusioning to see the ignorant and childish ways in which these people express themselves when the cameras are off.
I have known many prominent people and more than a few famous people. I find it hard to imagine any of them disporting themselves in the pathetic way that we see in the Epstein emails. Is this because my friends are mostly Republicans, and Epstein’s friends were nearly all Democrats?
I don’t know. I hope so. Because, if Epstein’s friends are typical of our country’s leaders, we are in big trouble.
UPDATE: Ms. Ruemmler announced yesterday the she is resigning as General Counsel of Goldman Sachs, effective in June.
