Former Goldman Sachs lawyer admits joking about Jeffrey Epstein's convicted massages

In testimony before the House Oversight Committee, Kathryn Ruemmler, who once served as White House counsel and later worked at Goldman Sachs, confessed to sending Jeffrey Epstein a joke about his prior conviction for soliciting a minor. She characterized the comment—“Best massage ever, but not your kind of massage”—as being in “extraordinarily poor taste,” noting it referred to a spa treatment she received at The Peninsula hotel in Manhattan after Epstein gifted her a half-day spa.

Ruemmler detailed additional high-end presents from Epstein, including gift cards, designer clothing, and an Apple Watch, while maintaining she never accepted any that altered her professional conduct. She denied any romantic involvement, explaining terms like “sweetie” and “Uncle Jeffrey” were meant sarcastically. Ruemmler stopped contacting Epstein after his 2019 sex-trafficking charges and expressed shock at his subsequent suicide in jail. Her remarks followed the Justice Department’s release of the email exchange, which led to her departure from Goldman Sachs earlier this year.