Transcripts from a closed-door interview between the House Oversight Committee and attorney Kathy Ruemmler reveal that the former Goldman Sachs general counsel — who previously served as White House counsel under President Barack Obama — pushed back forcefully against lawmakers probing her professional ties to Jeffrey Epstein, at one point appearing to issue a veiled warning to committee members.

Ruemmler appeared for the interview on July 15 as part of the committee's ongoing investigation into Epstein's network of associates. According to ABC News, Ruemmler said Epstein sought her legal advice from time to time "as many people do" and described the relationship as strictly professional. She told lawmakers she agreed to work with him because he had expressed remorse following his 2008 guilty plea to charges of solicitation of a minor for prostitution.

Epstein, a disgraced financier who was convicted in 2008 under a Florida state plea deal, was later federally charged in 2019 with sex trafficking of minors. He died in federal custody in August 2019 while awaiting trial; his death was ruled a suicide by the New York City medical examiner.

"I understand why, you know, sitting here in 2026, the emails can come across as if there is callousness to victims. That's not what I intended at the time. It wasn't my state of mind at the time," Ruemmler said during the interview.

While Ruemmler characterized her relationship with Epstein as limited to legal counsel, she acknowledged that Epstein helped her secure professional work with French banker Ariane de Rothschild. She also admitted that Epstein connected another attorney at her firm with a client in a criminal case. The disclosures underscore the degree to which Epstein, despite his 2008 conviction, continued to function as a connector among elite legal, financial, and social circles — a pattern that congressional investigators have sought to document across multiple interviews and document requests.

Near the end of her appearance, Ruemmler shifted to an assertive posture, delivering what several lawmakers present interpreted as an implicit warning. "In the American legal system we hold people accountable for their conduct. We don't hold people accountable for their associations," she stated.

She went on to note that some of the lawmakers questioning her had themselves "publicly endorsed a candidate who has been credibly accused of sexual assault," though she did not identify any specific individual.

"And so if we start applying a standard that somehow a mere association with someone who has been accused or, you know, convicted of criminal conduct — I think that's a very dangerous road to go down," she added.

The House Oversight Committee's investigation into Epstein's network and the scope of his professional relationships remains ongoing, with additional witness interviews and records demands anticipated as lawmakers attempt to establish a fuller accounting of who interacted with Epstein and on what basis.