WASHINGTON DC — Kathryn Ruemmler testified before the House Oversight Committee on 15 July 2026 regarding her communications with Jeffrey Epstein. Ruemmler, who served as White House counsel to President Barack Obama and later as chief legal officer at Goldman Sachs, stated that while she did not doubt Virginia Giuffre’s victimization, certain claims lacked inherent credibility based on her professional experience.

When asked if she believed Giuffre was a victim of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, Ruemmler responded, “I don’t know.” She elaborated, “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.” Ruemmler distinguished between general victimization and specific allegations, stating that typically, when someone says, “I was sex trafficked to someone,” they say who, when, where, not multiple world leaders, multiple foreign presidents.

The testimony drew immediate condemnation from Giuffre’s family. Sky Roberts and Amanda Roberts issued a statement condemning Ruemmler's remarks. “It is reprehensible to attempt to cast doubt on Virginia, whose bravery was the reason so many other survivors stepped forward, resulting in more than 50 people having to step down from their positions of power,” the statement read. Sky Roberts added that the only person who lacks credibility is Kathy Ruemmler. He also said she should be ashamed of herself.

Giuffre died by suicide in April 2025. She had alleged that Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell abused her as a teenager and trafficked her to powerful men. Among those she accused was Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, alleging that Epstein trafficked her to him. Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor has repeatedly denied the allegations against him.

Ruemmler’s appearance before the committee followed the release of records by the US Department of Justice earlier in 2026 under the Epstein Files Transparency Act. Ruemmler's name appeared thousands of times in the Epstein records, which revealed dozens of emails between her and Epstein between 2014 and 2019. The House Oversight Committee released a transcript of Ruemmler's closed-door interview on a Wednesday in July 2026.

During her testimony, Ruemmler addressed specific email exchanges. She testified about a 2016 email exchange in which she joked with Epstein about his conviction, writing, “Best massage ever, but not your kind of massage.” Ruemmler acknowledged the tone was inappropriate in hindsight. “I certainly knew that he had pled guilty to two prostitution-related offenses and that those — that those involved — that conduct involved sexualized massages. So what I was making here was an offhanded joke that, certainly sitting here in 2026, is in extraordinarily poor taste, but it was a joke about his prior criminal history,” she said.

Epstein responded to the email with the word Shame. Ruemmler testified that she referred to Epstein as “Uncle Jeffrey” and “sweetie” in emails. She described this as a joke to poke fun at his arrogant and avuncular qualities rather than an indication of affection. “So Mr. Epstein was — as I said a few minutes ago, he was extremely arrogant. He was a mansplainer. He was pushy. He was avuncular. And as a joke and, frankly, to poke fun of those qualities …. I think it was in response to, you know, again, something that he had sent me, you know, as a gift — that I, sort of, in a teasing way, referred to him, you know, as ‘Uncle Jeffrey,’” she said.

She added, “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.”

Ruemmler testified that she accepted gifts from Epstein, including a half spa day at The Peninsula in New York, gift cards to Bergdorf Goodman, a Fendi coat and bag, a Hermes bag, and an Apple Watch with a Hermes band. She maintained that these items did not influence her professional judgment. “With respect to gifts, I didn’t ask for them, I didn’t need them, and I didn’t view them as particularly personal or consequential. I accepted them graciously, as I saw no reason not to, but the gifts weren’t important to me, and I declined to accept some of them. In any event, nothing he gave me caused me to deal with him any differently than I otherwise would have,” Ruemmler said.

The committee also questioned Ruemmler about a September 2015 email in which she wrote, “I want to think about whether there are any counterclaims that could be brought against VR,” with VR referring to Virginia Roberts Giuffre. She said she had no memory of the email about counterclaims but stated she was sort of in a generic way trying to show that she was being somewhat responsive when Epstein was asking her views. And, again, that was a common way that she would respond to him. She added that she didn’t have any direct involvement in any of this.

She told the committee that her relationship with Epstein was professional and that he used her to legitimize his standing. She stated that she had no knowledge of any ongoing criminal activity by Epstein. “It was a mistake to deal with him,” she said.

“I wish I never dealt with the guy. I wish I — certainly wish I’d never emailed with him.” Jennifer Connelly, a spokesperson for Ruemmler, issued a statement supporting this account. 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, Connelly said. She added that 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.

Ruemmler testified that she stopped communicating with Epstein after he was charged with sex trafficking in July 2019. She described the subsequent events as surreal. “All of these events – the arrest, the indictment, the suicide — were all quite surprising to me. And, again, this is someone who I knew and I had dealt with, and so this is quite surreal,” she said.

Regarding Epstein's death, she noted, “The idea that the Bureau of Prisons, you know, could have been so negligent in a core duty to have allowed him to commit suicide was surprising and appalling to me.” Ruemmler was listed as a backup executor of Epstein's will.

Ruemmler joined Goldman Sachs in 2020 and was Chief Legal Officer and General Counsel. She was previously a partner at Latham and Watkins co-chairing its white-collar defense group. Ruemmler announced her resignation from Goldman Sachs in February 2026, effective at the end of June, over her links to child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. She remained at Goldman Sachs as an adviser until a successor was named after CEO David Solomon asked her to stay.

The testimony is part of a broader congressional inquiry into Epstein’s network, following previous appearances by other figures such as James Staley and Brad Groff before House committees. The release of thousands of pages of documents by the Department of Justice has intensified public and legislative interest in determining the extent of knowledge and involvement among high-profile individuals.