Kathryn H. Ruemmler (born April 19, 1971) is an attorney who was principal deputy White House counsel and thenWhite House Counsel to PresidentBarack Obama.[1] Previously a partner atLatham and Watkins co-chairing its white-collar defense group,[2] Ruemmler joinedGoldman Sachs in 2020 as a Partner and Global Head of Regulatory Affairs. In 2021, she was promoted to Chief Legal Officer and General Counsel.[3]
Ruemmler clerked forJudge Timothy K. Lewis on theThird Circuit in 1996 and 1997.[6] From 2000 to 2001, she was Associate Counsel toPresident Clinton.She worked as a federal prosecutor from 2001 to 2007, first as anAssistant United States Attorney in the District of Columbia,[7] and finishing as a deputy director ofDOJ's Enron Task Force. In 2006, she delivered the government's closing argument in the trial of former Enron executivesKenneth Lay andJeffrey Skilling, both of whom were convicted. Lay's conviction was overturned on October 17, 2006 due to abatement ab initio, a legal doctrine which says the death of a defendant during an appeal results in a vacated judgment.
Ruemmler returned to Latham in Washington, D.C., in 2007, this time as a partner, but left in January 2009 to be principal associate deputy attorney general at theJustice Department. She was White House Counsel from 2011 to 2014, and then again returned to Latham. In 2020, Ruemmler joinedGoldman Sachs as a partner. She is as Chief Legal Officer and General Counsel; she was previously Global Head of Regulatory Affairs. She is on the firmwide Management Committee.[8]
While she was employed as a partner atLatham and Watkins, Ruemmler met withJeffrey Epstein on dozens of occasions including lunches and dinners between her time in the White House and her subsequent hiring at Goldman Sachs, according to his schedule,The Wall Street Journal reported. She was also on his schedule for a flight to Paris in 2015, as well as a stop at his home in the U.S. Virgin Islands in 2017; she said these trips did not take place and The Wall Street Journal could not confirm that they or other meetings ultimately happened.[9] She said: "I regret ever knowing Jeffrey Epstein."[9][10]
In October 2011, Ruemmler said there was no evidence of the White House intervening inSolyndra's loan guarantee to benefit a campaign donor. Her letter to the House Energy and Commerce Committee also denies an effort by committee Republicans for access to internal White House communications. The letter goes on to deny Republican claims of improper White House influence in the Energy Department's 2009 decision to grant the company a $535 million loan guarantee, and the deal's early 2011 revamp that put private investors ahead of taxpayers for repayment if the company liquidated.[11]
Over what would have traditionally been the 2011-2012 winter recess of the112th Congress, theHouse of Representatives did not assent to recess, specifically to blockRichard Cordray's appointment as Director of theConsumer Financial Protection Bureau.[12] As a result, both the House and Senate heldpro forma sessions.[13] On January 4, 2012,President Obama claimed authority to appointRichard Cordray and others under the Recess Appointments Clause. Counsel Ruemmler asserted that the appointments were valid, because the pro forma sessions were designed to, "through form, render a constitutional power of the executive obsolete," and that the Senate was for all intents and purposes recessed.[14] Republicans in the Senate disputed the appointments, withSenate Minority LeaderMitch McConnell stating that Obama had "arrogantly circumvented the American people" and endangered "the Congress's role in providing a check on the excesses of the executive branch." It was expected that there would be a legal challenge to the appointments.[15]
On January 6, 2012, theDepartment of Justice'sOffice of Legal Counsel issued an opinion regarding recess appointments and pro forma sessions, stating that "[t]he convening of periodic pro forma sessions in which no business is to be conducted does not have the legal effect of interrupting an intrasession recess otherwise long enough to qualify as a 'Recess of the Senate' under the Recess Appointments Clause. In this context, the President therefore has discretion to conclude that the Senate is unavailable to perform its advise-and-consent function and to exercise his power to make recess appointments."[16][17]
In a profile by theWashington Post, it was reported that during negotiations overJohn Brennan'sconfirmation as CIA director, according to a White House official, it was Ruemmler who decided that the House and Senate intelligence panels could review the e-mails about different drafts of the Benghazi talking points without letting them take copies. The administration shifted course this month by releasing the e-mails after weeks of controversy over their content.[19]
She announced that she would be stepping down as White House Counsel in mid-May 2014.[20] She returned to private practice in July 2014.[21]
In September 2014, when Attorney GeneralEric Holder announced his intention to step down, Ruemmler was speculated as being a potential candidate as the nextUnited States Attorney General.[22][23] She withdrew from consideration the following month, amid speculation that she would have faced a "difficult confirmation process" because of her close friendship with President Obama.[24]
Design firmAshe Leandro created a line of furniture named after her, called "Ruemmler."[26] She is a client of the firm, and the line contains piecemeal elements made of wood (often,French Oak), leather, silk, and steel.[26][27][28]
