Kathryn Ruemmler, who served as both President Obama's White House counsel and Goldman Sachs' top lawyer, told House investigators she cracked a joke to Jeffrey Epstein about his criminal history involving sexualized massages, and lawmakers from both parties aren't buying her story.
A transcript released by the House Oversight Committee shows Ruemmler, 55, acknowledged during her July 15, 2026, closed-door testimony that she sent Epstein a 2016 email reading, "Best massage ever, but not your kind of massage," after receiving a spa day he had gifted her at The Peninsula hotel in Manhattan. Epstein's reply was a single word: "Shame."
Ruemmler told lawmakers she knew exactly what she was referencing. She said she understood Epstein "had pled guilty to two prostitution-related offenses" and that "those, that conduct involved sexualized massages." She called the email exchange "an offhanded joke" that, "sitting here in 2026, is in extraordinarily poor taste." But the testimony, and the thousands of Justice Department documents behind it, paint a picture of a relationship far deeper and more personal than a stray bad joke, one that has already cost Ruemmler her career at one of the world's most powerful financial institutions.
The transcript reveals that Ruemmler accepted a long list of expensive gifts from Epstein, a convicted sex offender. She testified to receiving gift cards to Bergdorf Goodman, a Fendi coat and bag, a Hermès bag, an Apple Watch with a Hermès band, and the half spa day at The Peninsula where she got the massage that prompted the joke. The Washington Free Beacon reported the Hermès handbag alone was worth $9,400.
Ruemmler downplayed the gifts in her testimony, telling lawmakers she "didn't ask for them," "didn't need them," and "didn't view them as particularly personal or consequential." She added that she declined some gifts Epstein offered, though she did not specify which ones.
The emails went beyond gift exchanges. Ruemmler referred to Epstein as "Uncle Jeffrey" and, in at least one message, called him "sweetie." She also described him as an "older brother" in correspondence. AP News reported that thousands of Justice Department documents showed Ruemmler told Epstein she "adored him", a characterization that sits uneasily beside her later public statements calling him a "monster."
Under questioning, Ruemmler tried to reframe the pet names. She described Epstein as "extremely arrogant," a "mansplainer," "pushy," and "avuncular," and said she used "Uncle Jeffrey" as a way to "poke fun" at those qualities. As for "sweetie," she insisted the tone was condescending, not affectionate:
"My tone was, 'sweetie,' like I was patting him on the head. 'Hey, sweetie, your conduct involved abuse of power too.' So it was far from an indication of affection."
She compared the context to Harvey Weinstein, the convicted rapist, suggesting she was drawing a parallel between Epstein's behavior and Weinstein's abuse of power.
Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle made clear they found Ruemmler's explanations hard to swallow. Rep. Robert Garcia, a California Democrat, told Fox News after the hearing:
"It is difficult to see how she's being completely truthful in there with the answers she's given the committee."
Garcia added bluntly: "For her to deny that there was any type of real relationship there, I just don't buy it."
That criticism was not limited to Republicans scoring political points. Rep. Suhas Subramanyam, a Virginia Democrat, offered an even sharper assessment of Ruemmler's motives. He said she "knew that this wasn't a man of good character, certainly, and someone who is a sex offender and registered as such. But she saw dollar signs, and she decided that she would overlook all that because he was rich and powerful."
When a Democrat from Virginia and a Democrat from California both publicly question a former Obama White House counsel's honesty under oath, the political cover has evaporated. Ruemmler's bipartisan grilling stands out precisely because her defenders have gone quiet.
Ruemmler served as White House counsel under President Obama from 2011 to 2014. She was, at one point, considered a candidate for attorney general. After leaving government, she entered private practice and eventually became general counsel at Goldman Sachs, one of the most prestigious legal posts on Wall Street.
She testified that her dealings with Epstein began through one of her private practice legal clients after she left the White House. She said she was never paid by Epstein directly. But the DOJ documents tell a different story about the scope of the relationship. Ruemmler's name appeared more than 1,000 times in the department's Epstein files. Emails and records showed ongoing contact and gift exchanges from 2014 to 2019, years after Epstein's 2008 conviction for soliciting a minor for prostitution was already public knowledge.
Ruemmler told the committee she stopped communicating with Epstein after he was charged with federal sex trafficking in July 2019. Newsmax reported she acknowledged during her testimony that Epstein "used" her "and other respectable people to legitimize his standing." She said she could "see now" that this was the case, a recognition that came years after the fact and only under congressional pressure.
Epstein was charged with federal sex trafficking in July 2019 and died by hanging in his Manhattan jail cell while awaiting trial, according to authorities. Ruemmler called the events, "the arrest, the indictment, the suicide", "quite shocking" and "quite surreal." She reserved particular criticism for the Bureau of Prisons, saying it was "shocking and appalling" that the agency "could have been so negligent in a core duty to have allowed him to commit suicide."
The broader investigation into Epstein's network of powerful associates has continued to produce uncomfortable revelations for figures across the political spectrum. Breitbart noted that the documents released by the Justice Department revealed a relationship that "went well beyond professional legal work," including personal emails, social plans, and gifts, contradicting Ruemmler's repeated public attempts to characterize the connection as limited and professional.
The consequences for Ruemmler have been concrete. Earlier in 2026, after the DOJ released her extensive communications with Epstein, she resigned from Goldman Sachs. The New York Post reported that the email exchange, including the massage joke, played a central role in ending her tenure at the bank.
Ruemmler denied ever having a romantic relationship with Epstein. She told the committee she wished she had never dealt with him at all:
"I wish I never dealt with the guy. It was a mistake to deal with him. I wish I, certainly wish I'd never emailed with him."
She is not the only Obama-era figure to face legal or ethical scrutiny in recent months. Former Obama press aide Adam Fetcher was charged with felony fraud in a separate matter, adding to a pattern of former administration officials confronting serious questions about their conduct after leaving government.
Still, several questions from Ruemmler's testimony remain unanswered. She did not identify which private practice client connected her to Epstein. She did not specify which gifts she declined. And the full transcript, running to dozens of pages, may contain additional exchanges not yet reported. The transcript itself is now public.
Ruemmler knew who Epstein was, knew what he had done, accepted his gifts, joked about his crimes, called him "Uncle Jeffrey", and now wants the country to believe none of it mattered. Bipartisan disbelief is the least of what that story deserves.