Obama officials 'met with Jeffrey Epstein,' unearthed docs reveal
Barack Obama (Video screenshot)
By Kate Anderson
Daily Caller News Foundation
- Several members of the Obama White House met with the now-deceased sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, according to unearthed documents, including a private calendar, obtained by The Wall Street Journal.
- CIA Director William Burns, former White House Counsel Kathryn Ruemmler and former Undersecretary of the Treasury Lawrence Summers all met with Epstein on several occasions, the WSJ reported, citing the documents.
- “The director did not know anything about him, other than that he was introduced as an expert in the financial services sector and offered general advice on transition to the private sector,” a CIA spokesperson told the WSJ.
A group of officials in President Barack Obama’s administration were recently revealed to have had multiple meetings with deceased sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, according to documents obtained by the Wall Street Journal.
Epstein, a former real estate mogul, was convicted of soliciting prostitution and one count of soliciting prostitution with a minor in 2006 and then accused in 2019 of running a massive human trafficking operation of underage girls before he committed suicide that year, according to The Associated Press. Epstein’s high-profile contacts included Larry Summers, the former undersecretary of the Treasury, William Burns, CIA director and the former deputy secretary of state and Kathryn Ruemmler, a lawyer at Goldman Sachs and White House counsel from 2011 to 2014, according to Epstein’s calendar obtained by the WSJ.
Summers, also formerly the director of the National Economic Council for the Obama administration from 2009 to 2011, was first listed as one of the names in Epstein’s black book in 2019 and the calendar revealed that the two had multiple meetings, according to the WSJ. Summers met with Epstein on two separate occasions in 2014 for advice regarding Elisa New’s, Summers’ wife, charity projects.
In 2016, a $110,000 donation from a nonprofit linked to Epstein was donated to New’s nonprofit organization, according to the WSJ.
A spokesperson told the WSJ that Summers “deeply regrets being in contact with Epstein after his conviction,” and that New’s nonprofit “regrets accepting funding from Epstein,” later making a donation “exceeding the amount received” to an anti-human trafficking organization.
Burns met with Epstein three times during his tenure at the White House and one of the meetings reportedly took place at Epstein’s townhouse in Manhattan where several women accused Epstein of sexually assaulting them, according to the WSJ.
Jeffrey Epstein mugshot
“The director did not know anything about him, other than that he was introduced as an expert in the financial services sector and offered general advice on transition to the private sector,” a CIA spokesperson told the WSJ. “They had no relationship.”
Ruemmler had dozens of meetings with Epstein after her stint in the White House on behalf of Latham & Watkins LLP, according to the WSJ. Epstein appeared to take an interest in Ruemmler, asking to upgrade her plane ticket to first class on one occasion, had avocado sushi on hand when they met and called her after she left the White House in 2014.
A Goldman Sachs spokesperson for Ruemmler told the WSJ that she “regret[s] ever knowing Jeffrey Epstein,” but that he simply introduced her to potential new clients such as Bill Gates.
“Many of Ms. Ruemmler’s contacts related to a potential representation involving the Gates Foundation, a representation of the Edmond de Rothschild bank, and other business opportunities,” a Goldman Sachs spokesperson told the Daily Caller News Foundation.
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George Mitchell, former U.S. senator and special envoy for Middle East Peace from 2009 to 2011, was listed in Epstein’s black book and accused of sexual abuse in 2019, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer. Virginia Giuffre, one of Epstein’s accusers, said that Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s former girlfriend and fellow sex trafficker, told her to have sex with Mitchell.
Mitchell has denied the claims and a spokesperson for the former senator gave the DCNF a statement from Mitchell, claiming that he had “no knowledge” of Epstein’s abuse of minors.
“I deeply regret having met and known Jeffrey Epstein,” the statement read. “I first learned of [Epstein’s abuse] from published reports of his prosecution in Florida on such charges. Thereafter we had no further contact. The period of no contact continued until his death in 2019 and therefore included the years 2009-2011.”
Epstein also had seven phone numbers for John Kerry, Obama’s secretary of State from 2013 to 2017, including a number for Kerry’s presidential campaign in 2004. Kerry received $4,000 in gifts from Epstein between 1991 and 2004, according to Business Insider.
A State Department spokesperson told the DCNF that “Secretary Kerry had no relationship with Jeffrey Epstein and never met with him while he was Secretary of State” and referred to a 2019 statement addressing “his minuscule donor history.”
Burns, Summers and the office of Barack and Michelle Obama did not immediately respond to the DCNF’s request for comment.
This story originally was published by the Daily Caller News Foundation.
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