A former White House counsel and former general counsel of Goldman Sachs, who has faced scrutiny over her past ties to Jeffrey Epstein, told a House committee this month that some of the allegations made by one his most prominent accusers “lacked inherent credibility”, according to newly released transcripts.
Kathryn Ruemmler’s name appeared thousands of times in records related to Epstein, the disgraced financier and convicted sex offender, that were released earlier this year by the US Department of Justice under the Epstein Files Transparency Act.
The files revealed Ruemmler had accepted gifts from Epstein, who died by suicide while awaiting trial in ۲۰۱۹ after he was arrested by federal authorities, at times addressed him as “Uncle Jeffrey” and “sweetie” in emails, and offered him informal advice on how to respond to questions about his sex crimes.
Ruemmler’s testimony before Congress when she was asked about Virginia Giuffre, a victim of Epstein’s abuse, was swiftly criticized by Giuffre’s family. “She should be ashamed of herself,” Giuffre’s brother and sister-in-law, Sky and Amanda Roberts, told CNN. Giuffre died by suicide in April ۲۰۲۵.
“Do you believe that Virginia Giuffre was a victim of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell?” the House oversight committee asked Ruemmler, who served as the White House counsel in the Obama administration, during her interview with the panel earlier this month part of its investigation into Epstein.
“I don’t know,” she responded, according to a transcript released on Wednesday.
Ruemmler went on to add: “If she says that she was, I don’t have a reason to doubt that. However, there were allegations that she made that were, I believed based on my experience as a former prosecutor and as a defense counsel, that were of such a nature that they were – they lacked inherent credibility.
“Typically, when someone says, I was sex trafficked to someone, they say who, when, where, not multiple world leaders, multiple foreign presidents,” she said.
Her remarks were condemned by Giuffre’s brother and sister-in-law, Sky and Amanda Roberts, who said in a statement to CNN that it as “reprehensible” to “attempt to cast doubt on Virginia, whose bravery was the reason so many other survivors stepped forward, resulting in more than ۵۰ people having to step down from their positions of power”.
They said that “the only person who lacks credibility is Kathy Ruemmler”.
Giuffre, one of Epstein’s most prominent accusers, had previously testified and alleged that Epstein and Maxwell had abused her as a teenager, and trafficked her to powerful men, including Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, who has repeatedly denied the allegations against him.
Jennifer Connelly, a spokesperson for Ruemmler, said in a statement: “As Ms Ruemmler told the committee, she had no knowledge of any ongoing criminal activity by Epstein and there is not a shred of evidence to suggest otherwise.”
“Ms Ruemmler would never turn a blind eye to any criminal activity and if she had seen or heard anything to suggest that Epstein was harming women or girls, she would have taken action to stop it,” she added.
Another representative for Ruemmler also told CNN in a statement – before Giuffre’s family members had issued their statement – that Ruemmler “was responding to a specific discussion about specific allegations” and was “expressing skepticism regarding particular claims that had not been substantiated, not every allegation Ms Giuffre ever made”.
The transcript was released about two weeks after Ruemmler appeared before the committee. She was called to testify after the Epstein files revealed dozens of emails between her and Epstein between ۲۰۱۴ and ۲۰۱۹. At one point she had been listed as a backup executor of his will, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Ruemmler told lawmakers during the interview that they had a professional relationship and that Epstein had “used” her “to legitimize his standing” and that “it was a mistake to deal with” him.
She insisted that she never saw any “evidence of ongoing criminal conduct or misconduct of any kind by Epstein during the time I dealt with him” and also told lawmakers that “many” of her emails with Epstein had been “taken out of context or do not mean what some have speculated or suggested”.
Ruemmler announced in February that she would be resigning from her role at Goldman Sachs as chief legal officer.
