Kathryn Ruemmler, who resigned last week as the top lawyer at Goldman Sachs Group Inc., corresponded with Jeffrey Epstein about a prostitution scandal that engulfed the US Secret Service during her tenure as White House counsel under former President Barack Obama.
In a dozen or so exchanges that were sent months after Ruemmler left her White House position in 2014, she complained to Epstein about “this secret service crap” and forwarded to him a draft email that contained detailed, nonpublic information about the behind-the-scenes role the White House Counsel’s office played in investigating the 2012 prostitution scandal.
Although Ruemmler had left the White House, she remained embroiled in the matter as lawmakers and journalists probed her work investigating the scandal. At the time she was under consideration
Epstein offered advice, as well as what he described as “edits” to the email draft, which Ruemmler indicated she was planning to send to a journalist. “Breathe, smile. You’re free,” he wrote in one message.
These messages were among hundreds between Ruemmler and Epstein, a set of exchanges that reveals they had a relationship close enough that she accepted gifts from him and referred to him as “Uncle Jeffrey.” After this latest batch of emails was released and publicized, Ruemmler resigned last week as the chief legal officer and general counsel of Goldman Sachs. She said June 30 would be her last day.
It’s unclear whether Ruemmler accepted any advice on the Secret Service scandal from Epstein, who was already a convicted sex offender at the time. Jennifer Connelly, a spokeswoman for Ruemmler, said the former White House counsel “has done nothing wrong and has nothing to hide. Nothing in the record suggests otherwise.”
“Ms. Ruemmler has deep sympathy for those harmed by Epstein and if she knew then what she knows now, she never would have dealt with him at all,” Connelly said.
The Secret Service declined to comment.
The underlying incident dates to April 2012, when a dozen Secret Service agents and other US government staffers traveled to Cartagena, Colombia, to provide security for Obama’s visit to the Summit of the Americas, a diplomatic forum for leaders from the US and 34 countries across the hemisphere.
Prior to Obama’s visit, the Secret Service agents and other government employees hired prostitutes and brought them back to their rooms at the Hotel Caribe. An argument ensued over payment to one of the women, which caused the matter to spill into public view, sparking an investigation by the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General.
Eight Secret Service employees were relieved of duty, and others were disciplined. The inspector general’s report, which was published in January 2013, made no mention of the White House or any of its staff members.
But two years later, the Washington Post published a story that said Ruemmler and other top officials had been briefed twice by the Secret Service about allegations that White House personnel had been involved. The White House had previously denied that anyone from its staff was involved.
Among the information the White House was given, according to the Oct. 8, 2014 report, were details that suggested a prostitute had been an overnight guest in the room of a volunteer member of the White House advance team. The volunteer denied it. Ruemmler “and other presidential aides conducted an interview” with the volunteer and “concluded that he had done nothing wrong,” according to the story.
The Washington Post article also reported that a DHS official who investigated the prostitution scandal had told Senate staffers that Obama’s White House exerted pressure on the agency to withhold conclusions of the investigation until after the 2012 presidential election.
The following day Epstein and Ruemmler exchanged emails that were both friendly and businesslike. “How you doin,” Epstein asked in one.
“Doing fine,” she responded. “Was talking to reporters until late in the morning last=night. Trying to isolate/contain wapo.”
A week after that 2014 article was published, Ruemmler forwarded Epstein an email addressed to the reporter that described the White House’s role in investigating the prostitution scandal, including the White House’s own findings. The email, which was dated Oct. 17, said that the information for the reporter was on “background,” meaning it could not be attributed to Ruemmler. The emails don’t indicate whether it was sent.
Does the White House volunteer “still deny it?” Epstein asked Ruemmler in response to the Oct. 17, 2014 email. “Important point.”
“Yes he does. Making some more tweaks,” Ruemmler replied.
A minute later Epstein asked, “Did you look at my edits?”
She responded: “Looking now.”
In another thread, Ruemmler forwarded Epstein an email that she had received on Oct. 16 from then-White House deputy press secretary, Eric Schultz. The message contained a letter to the Washington Post reporter from an attorney representing the White House volunteer who’d been swept up in the prostitution scandal.
In a response, Epstein seized on part of the letter to ask whether a prostitute—instead of a hotel clerk—had written down the room number she was visiting. “that’s a totally different spin=on the story, if t wasn’t the hotel clerk who wrote it, =e how often do prostitutes lie as to which room they are head=d??” he asked.
“We don’t know -- could have been the prostitute, could h=ve been the hotel clerk,” Ruemmler replied.
“could have b=en the prostitute is pretty strong mitigation,” Epstein said.
“The whole thing is ridiculous,” she replied.
To contact the author of this story:
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
John Voskuhl
© 2026 Bloomberg L.P. All rights reserved. Used with permission.