New York Times went from self-appointed #MeToo – Business News
After main 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 Ruemmler was at one level even named as an executor of the pedophile’s will, though she backed away from it. She has additionally mentioned she denies full awareness of his years of crimes.
In a softball interview featured within the Opinion part on June 11, Ruemmler — who resigned in February as Goldman Sachs’ common counsel amid the fallout over her emails with Epstein — is portrayed as “oddly naive” and a lady simply making an attempt to outlive within the cutthroat world of massive law.
Kathryn Ruemmler seems on NBC’s ‘Meet the Press” in 2014. NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal by way of Getty Images
The creator, freelance contributor Ankush Khardori, provides that Ruemmler’s “remorse felt genuine” about her relationships with Epstein.
But within the Times newsroom, such a beneficiant portrayal dropped like a “stink bomb,” in keeping with sources.
“Everyone thought the story was a joke… it was embarrassing,” one Times reporter who has coated Epstein advised 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 — together with the presents he showered on her, and the very fact she referred to him as “sweetie” and “Uncle Jeffrey” and signed off emails to him with “xoxo,” in keeping with the more than 10,000 paperwork launched by the Department of Justice.
Kathy Ruemmler was within the Obama White House earlier than becoming a member of the company world. AFP by way of Getty Images
Nathan Werksman, an lawyer who has represented 4 Epstein victims and who pushed New York lawmakers to re-open his property to lawsuits (a story coated by the Times), mentioned that glossing over accountability for highly effective 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 advised 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 usher in business, claiming she “never would have worked with him if she knew the true extent of his crimes.”
Ruemmler went on to work at Latham & Watkins and Goldman Sachs after working as Obama’s counsel. Getty Images
A law enforcement picture of Jeffrey Epstein taken in 2013. Florida Department of Law Enforc/AFP by way of Getty Images
Ruemmler additionally mentioned within 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, advised 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.”
Regarding Epstein, he added, “She never texted him, never went to dinner with him, refused to make personal introductions … turned down a $50,000 gift at one point.”
The sympathetic portrayal of Ruemmler stands in sharp distinction to the Times’ own reporting — not solely about her, however as a chief of the #MeToo motion to call and disgrace sexual harassers.
The newspaper’s largest prize in that regard was its publicity of the misdeeds of Harvey Weinstein, which opened the floodgates in opposition to many different notable males.
The New York Times has notable writers who helped spark the #MeToo motion, like Jodi Kantor. CBS by way of Getty Images
The Post has reached out to Times reporters Jodi Kantor and Meghan Twohey, who broke the Weinstein story, for his or her stance on the Ruemmler interview.
The newspaper claimed its information and opinion sections “do not coordinate with each other,” when requested for remark concerning the story, including: “The newsroom and opinion provide insights and understanding to our audiences in different ways, and both offer enormous value.”
However, one other source acquainted with the scenario advised The Post Khardori’s interview with Ruemmler felt tone-deaf.
“You’re either a lost lamb or a powerful attorney — but you can’t be both,” the source mentioned. “The timing felt too rushed for someone who only stepped down months ago. Maybe wait a minute before trying to whitewash yourself?”
A earlier WSJ story reported Ruemmler “had dozens of meetings with Epstein in the years after her White House service and before she became a top lawyer at Goldman Sachs … [Epstein] also planned for her to join a 2015 trip to Paris and a 2017 visit to Epstein’s private island in the Caribbean.”
As for the NYT interview with Ruemmler? Werksman quipped, “Whoever Ruemmler’s publicist is, who got that interview placed, deserves a fruit basket.”
