Goldman Sachs is standing by its top lawyer after newly released emails revealed she maintained a lengthy correspondence with Jeffrey Epstein – trashing President Trump and turning to the disgraced financier for career advice even after he pled guilty to soliciting prostitution with a minor.
The Wall Street giant on Thursday defended general counsel Kathy Ruemmler following the House Oversight Committee’s release of her missives, which ranged from calling Trump “truly stupid” and “gross” to seeing what Epstein thought about the prospect of her becoming US attorney general.
The communication spanned 2014 to 2019 — well after Epstein pled guilty to prostitution charges in 2008 and settled civil lawsuits brought by multiple victims in 2010.
Ruemmler, who served as White House counsel under former President Barack Obama, regularly vented to Epstein about Trump’s political rise.
“Trump is living proof of the adage that it is better to be lucky than smart,” she told Epstein in an August 2015 email.
The tone continued in 2016, when she wrote in February of that year: “The Trump success is seriously scary.”
The following year, she called Trump “so gross,” prompting Epstein to reply: “Worse in real life and upclose [sic].”
“Trump is truly stupid,” Ruemmler wrote in July 2017, eliciting a response of “Duh” from Epstein.
The emails show she also consulted Epstein on major career decisions, including whether she should vie to succeed Eric Holder as head of the Justice Department in 2014.
Epstein urged her to “talk to boss” about the position.
“Agreed, but I need to be prepared to say yes before I talk to him,” Ruemmler replied.
She ended up removing herself from consideration for the attorney general post and remained at the law firm Latham & Watkins, where she led its global white-collar defense group.
Ruemmler joined Goldman Sachs as its top lawyer in 2020 and is currently co-vice chair of Goldman’s firm-wide reputational risk committee, among other roles. Bankers inside Goldman previously complained to senior management about Ruemmler’s relationship with Epstein in light of her position on that panel, which decides which clients the bank shouldn’t work with, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Goldman officials reportedly told the bankers the Epstein matter had nothing to do with her job at the firm and that she was up-front in disclosing her relationship with the disgraced financier when she joined
“Kathy is an exceptional general counsel and we benefit from her judgment every day,” Goldman spokesman Tony Fratto said in a statement to CNBC this week.
The release of the emails, which the House Oversight Committee obtained from the Epstein estate, came as Democrats have been working to throw mud at Trump.
“These emails prove literally nothing,” White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said in a statement to The Post on Friday.
“Democrats and the mainstream media are desperately trying to use this hoax as a distraction to talk about anything other than Democrats getting utterly defeated by President Trump in the shutdown fight,” she added.
“We won’t be distracted, and the entire Administration will continue fulfilling the promises the President was elected on, including cutting the Biden-era price hikes.”
Epstein hanged himself in a Manhattan lockup while awaiting trial in August 2019 — weeks after federal prosecutors charged him with sex trafficking.
The recently released emails captured Epstein and Ruemmler discussing former President Bill Clinton and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. Epstein also offered to connect her with influential figures including Leon Black, Woody Allen, Peter Thiel and Larry Summers.
Fratto said Thursday the emails “were private correspondence well before Kathy Ruemmler joined Goldman Sachs.”
Epstein told Ruemmler in one of the emails that he ended his friendship with former President Bill Clinton because he thought he was a liar.
In a January 2016 message, Epstein said he’d cut off contact with Clinton “when he swore, with whole hearted conviction to me, that he had done something, he had forgotten that he also swore the exact opposite to me only weeks before.”
A January 2019 draft of Epstein’s will named Ruemmler as the backup executor to his estate, according to a copy of the document released by the House Oversight Committee earlier this year.
In 2023, The Journal reported that Ruemmler met with Epstein “dozens” of times after leaving the White House and before starting her job at Goldman.
Epstein invited her to Paris in 2015 and to his Caribbean Island in 2017, according to The Journal. She never accepted travel from him or visited the notorious island, a Goldman spokesman said.
The bank has said Ruemmler’s ties to Epstein were professional and related to her work at Latham. Latham has said Epstein wasn’t a client.
Ruemmler didn’t respond to requests for comment.
The Post has sought comment from Goldman and Latham.
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