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After leading the charge on #MeToo, the New York Times is raising eyebrows by giving a sympathetic platform to a Jeffrey Epstein ally and former Obama White House Counsel.
Kathryn Ruemmlerwas at one point even named as an executor of the pedophile’s will, although she backed away from it. She has also said she denies full awareness of his years of crimes.
In a softball interview featured in theOpinion sectionon June 11, Ruemmler — who resigned in February as Goldman Sachs’ general counsel amid the fallout over her emails with Epstein — is portrayed as “oddly naive” and a woman just trying to survive in the cutthroat world of big law.
The author, freelance contributor Ankush Khardori, adds that Ruemmler’s “remorse felt genuine” about her relationships with Epstein.
But in the Times newsroom, such a generous portrayal dropped like a “stink bomb,” according to sources.
“Everyone thought the story was a joke… it was embarrassing,” one Timesreporter who has covered Epstein told The Post. “They [Khardori] didn’t even appear to have read our own reporting.”
The Times has reported extensively on Ruemmler’s ties to Epstein — including the gifts he showered on her, and the fact she referred to him as “sweetie” and “Uncle Jeffrey” andsigned off emailsto him with “xoxo,” according to the more than 10,000 documents released by the Department of Justice.
Nathan Werksman, an attorney who has represented four Epsteinvictims and who pushed New York lawmakers to re-open his estateto lawsuits (a story covered by the Times), said that glossing over accountability for powerful figures like Ruemmler undermines the paper’s own mission.
“The biggest flaw in the Times’ opinion piece is the argument that it’s useless to punish Ruemmler for her extensive personal and professional Epstein ties,” Werksman told The Post.
“However, her experience sends a clear message throughout Big Law ranks: associations with sketchy people can carry real financial and reputational costs. In a profit-driven industry, which Big Law always has been and always will be, that matters.”
The piece portrays Ruemmler as feeling pressured to bring in business, claiming she “never would have worked with him if she knew the true extent of his crimes.”
Ruemmler also said in the story, “What I did not appreciate at the time and now deeply regret … is that Epstein used me, along with many others, to legitimize his standing.”
However, the source scoffed that Ruemmler “regrets her career getting damaged.”
Khardori, who wrote the piece, told The Post: “Ruemmler herself is the victim of sexual assault … Her relationship with Epstein was based on a shared client engagement, but in the current climate, people feel free to take those facts and spin them into different and more serious claims.”
