Kathy Ruemmler, the influential Chief Legal Officer of Goldman Sachs and former White House counsel under Barack Obama, has stepped down after newly disclosed Justice Department files revealed years of private email exchanges with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The documents show communication between 2014 and 2019, including messages in which Epstein was referred to in strikingly personal terms, “Uncle Jeffrey” and even an “older brother.” Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon accepted her resignation, praising her contributions but acknowledging the growing controversy. Ruemmler stated that the escalating media attention had become a distraction and that stepping aside was in the firm’s best interest. WATCH 

Ghislaine Maxwell, the longtime associate of Jeffrey Epstein, refused to answer questions from House lawmakers during a scheduled deposition at a federal prison facility in Texas, invoking her Fifth Amendment rights and declining to provide testimony in a congressional investigation into Epstein’s trafficking network. Behind closed doors, Maxwell’s legal team delivered a message to lawmakers: she would be willing to testify “fully and honestly”, but only if President Donald Trump were to grant her clemency or commute her prison sentence. Her attorney claimed that Maxwell could confirm that neither Trump nor former President Bill Clinton committed criminal wrongdoing in connection with Epstein, framing her testimony as contingent on presidential intervention. WATCH