Kathryn Ruemmler | |
---|---|
White House Counsel | |
In office June 30, 2011 – June 2014 |
|
President | Barack Obama |
Preceded by | Bob Bauer |
Succeeded by | Neil Eggleston |
Personal details | |
Born |
Richland, Washington, U.S. |
April 19, 1971
Political party | Democratic |
Alma mater |
University of Washington, Seattle Georgetown University |
Kathryn "Kathy" Ruemmler (born April 19, 1971) is an attorney who formerly served as White House Counsel to President Barack Obama. She previously worked as Principal Deputy White House Counsel.
A graduate of Richland High School in Richland, Washington, Ruemmler received a Bachelor of Arts in English from the University of Washington and earned her Juris Doctor from Georgetown University Law Center. She also served as Editor-in-Chief of the Georgetown Law Journal.
Ruemmler is a former federal prosecutor who helped lead the government’s case against the former executives of Enron. In 2006, she delivered the government's closing argument in the trial of former Enron executives Kenneth Lay and Jeffrey Skilling, both of whom were convicted. She returned to Latham in 2007, this time as a partner. From 2000 to 2001 she served as Associate Counsel to President Clinton. She was a litigation partner in the Washington, D.C. office of Latham & Watkins from 2007 but left in January 2009 to serve as principal associate deputy attorney general at the Justice Department.
In October 2011, Ruemmler said that there is no evidence of the White House intervening in Solyndra’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.