Larry Summers to step back from public commitments after new Epstein emails

Larry Summers, who served as Treasury secretary under President Bill Clinton, said Monday he would step back from public engagements following the recent release of his correspondence with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

“I am deeply ashamed of my actions and recognize the pain they have caused. I take full responsibility for my ill-advised decision to continue communicating with Mr. Epstein,” Summers said in a statement.

The House Oversight Committee last week released more than 20,000 emails from Epstein’s estate, including extensive correspondence between the disgraced financier and Summers. The most recent was from the day before Epstein’s arrest in 2019.

“While continuing to fulfill my obligations as a teacher, I will step back from my public engagements as part of my broader efforts to rebuild trust and repair relationships with those closest to me,” Summers added in his statement.

Emails released last week revealed a close relationship between Epstein and Summers. During an exchange in March 2019, they corresponded about a woman Summers was interested in.

Epstein was in jail awaiting trial on federal charges when he committed suicide in 2019. Summers was not charged with participating in the crimes associated with Epstein.

President Donald Trump on Friday ordered the Justice Department to investigate Epstein’s ties to notable Democrats, including Clinton and Summers.

A Clinton spokesperson said last week that the released emails “prove that Bill Clinton did nothing and knew nothing.”

“The rest is just noise meant to distract from election losses, backfired shutdowns and who knows what else,” the spokesperson said in a statement.

The emails released by Congress also mentioned Trump. In one of the emails, Epstein said Trump “knew about the girls” – but did not accuse him of any wrongdoing. In another email, sent during Trump’s first term, Epstein said he was “the one who was capable of bringing him down” but did not include further details or context.

Trump has denied any wrongdoing and has not been accused of any criminal activity.

“These emails prove absolutely nothing other than that President Trump did nothing wrong,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said last week.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., on Monday called on institutions affiliated with Summers to cut ties with him.

“For decades, Larry Summers has demonstrated his penchant for serving the wealthy and well-connected, but his willingness to cozy up to a convicted sex offender demonstrates monumental poor judgment,” Warren said in a statement shared with NBC News before Summers announced he would step back from public engagements.

“If he had so little ability to distance himself from Jeffrey Epstein, even after everything that was publicly known about Epstein’s sexual offenses involving underage girls, then Summers cannot be trusted to advise our nation’s politicians, policymakers and institutions — or to teach a generation of students at Harvard or elsewhere,” she added.

Epstein was arrested on federal sex trafficking charges in July 2019. He was arrested in 2006 after a grand jury indicted him for solicitation of prostitution and pleaded guilty to state charges in 2008. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida then negotiated a secret non-prosecution agreement with Epstein, which protected him from federal prosecution.

Summers, a former president of Harvard, is a tenured professor at the university, serves on the board of directors of OpenAI and is a distinguished senior fellow at the left-leaning Center for American Progress and a contributor to Bloomberg.

A CAP spokesperson said Monday evening that Summers’ announcement to step back from public engagements “includes the end of his fellowship” at the Washington-based think tank.

Harvard did not immediately respond to a request for comment on whether Summers’ status at the university had changed following his announcement.

Summers served as president of Harvard from 2001 to 2006.

Bloomberg did not immediately respond to a request for comment, while OpenAI did not provide comment.

The House is set to pass a bill Tuesday that would force the release of Justice Department files on Epstein. Trump, who previously opposed the measure, now says he would sign it if it passes both the House and Senate.