Goldman Sachs General Counsel Kathy Ruemmler allegedly had an affair with Jeffrey Epstein’s personal attorney Reid Weingarten, according to the latest tranche of documents released by the Department of Justice.
In an email from June 15, 2015, Weingarten’s wife Cheryl Gould writes to Ruemmler: “I hope now=you can find true happiness without having a relationship with someone else’s husband… i’m the=kind of woman who loves the sisterhood, not women who sleep with and fall i[n] love with someone else’s husband…”
Another email, sent the same day by Gould to Ruemmler, who was Obama’s White House counsel, reads, “Reid has confessed his sec[r]ets and lies. He has told me that his relationship with you has caused him m[i]sery.
“Stay away before you manage to destroy him completely. You have no di[g]nity or pride.”
Sources with knowledge of the relationship claim it began when both Ruemmler and Weingarten were single and that Weingarten confessed his feelings for Ruemmler to his wife after they married. These sources add that Ruemmler was blindsided by the emails and never responded. It’s unclear when the relationship between Ruemmler and Weingarten ended.
The Post has reached out to Weingarten, Gould and Ruemmler for comment.
While it’s unclear when Weingarten and Gould married, reports from as early as 2005 referred to them as a couple.
Gould worked at NBC for nearly four decades as a journalist and was the first female executive producer of a nightly primetime newscast.
Weingarten, now a partner at Steptoe & Johnson, was Epstein’s primary attorney in 2019 after federal sex-trafficking charges were brought against the disgraced financier and continued to represent Epstein’s interests following his death that same year. According to emails, the two had also communicated about legal and personal matters for nearly a decade.
On Jan. 30, the DOJ released more than 3 million additional pages of Epstein’s documents as part of its release of the Epstein files.
The latest email dump suggests just how close Ruemmler — who now serves as Goldman Sachs’ general counsel — was to Epstein.
The emails show Epstein provided Ruemmler with lavish gifts totaling over $20,000 — including a Hermès handbag, spa treatments and Bergdorf Goodman gift cards — while she offered him informal advice on managing his sex-trafficking case fallout, including helping draft public statements and advising on press inquiries related to accuser Virginia Giuffre.
Ruemmler, who served as White House counsel under President Obama before entering private practice at Latham & Watkins, referred to Epstein as “Uncle Jeffrey” in multiple emails and wrote that she “adored” him, meeting him dozens of times at his Manhattan townhouse and potentially joining him on international trips.
While her ties to Epstein have been public for years, these new emails reveal both a level of intimacy with Epstein as well as the affair allegations.
The Post previously reported that Ruemmler, a former Obama White House counsel who referred to herself as Epstein’s lawyer in one email, maintained a close relationship with the disgraced financier.
Below is Gould’s full email to Ruemmler:
I certainly do hope that this time, yo[u] understand the finality of your “relationship” with my husband. I hope now=you can find true happiness without having a relationship with someone else[‘]s husband. I really hope you do. I’m not a person who likes to see other pe[o]ple suffer, no matter what hurts they may have caused. I am not gleeful abo[u]t your loss. Reid says he always wanted to just be friends with you, but I [th]ink he understands because of your (plural) behavior and the damage you hav[e] both caused to our marriage and family, that can probably never be. l=hear from many people (who don’t know what’s gone on) that you and I would b[e] great friends. I wish I could say I hope that happens someday, but I’m the=kind of woman who loves the sisterhood, not women who sleep with and fall i[n] love with someone else’s husband or significant other, no matter how willi[n]g the man is to have his ego stroked and no matter how swept away you are b[y] feelings of some kind of deformed mutation of love. I just don’t see that k[i]nd of friendship between us in the cards.
However as I told Reid befo[r]e he picked up the phone to call you, if he could urge you to suck up your h[u]rt feelings and send me a sincere apology for participating in an arrangeme[n]t that caused damage to Reid, to yourself, to me, and to our [son] (who h[a]s been fighting tears all weekend because of his mother’s pain and because h[e] sees the father figure he has admired his whole life as a weak man who has=lied and cheated to his mother)….if you can find it in your heart to ask f[o]r my forgiveness, I would want very much to forgive you and see you in a li[g]ht different from the one I have seen you in for years. Perhaps you aren’t a[w]are….Reid has told me about his addiction to you before and has asked for=my help to break it. He finally found the power to do it because of the dep[t]hs of his misery and unwillingness to proceed through life as a dishonorabl[e] man. I hope you can find a similarly true friend who can do the same=for you. I wish you well, believe it or not. Had you not jumped off the pho[n]e as quickly as you did (which I perfectly well understand) he would have t[o]ld you this.
Reid and I have a lot of work=to do together to fix the mess you two have caused, but our love is very st[r]ong and we will get there. I honestly don’t want to add to your hurts by ma[k]ing you think you have destroyed our marriage on top of everything else. I c[a]n’t imagine you would have rejoiced had that been the case. You haven’t des[t]royed our bond so no worries on that front. It must be hard for you t[o] understand how deep our relationship is since he has not acted that way in=his weak behavior with you. In fact, I think he felt he could act out with y[o]u, act as though his relationship with you was intense and real, precisely b[e]cause he knew I would be there for him. He is a great man with great weakne[s]ses. That doesn’t make him a monster and I don’t think you are either.
Best wishes for your future,
Ch[e]ryl Gould
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