Larry Summers, who was treasury secretary under President Bill Clinton, said Monday that he will be stepping back from public commitments following the recent publication 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 misguided 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, which included extensive correspondence between the disgraced financier and Summers. The most recent one was from the day before Epstein was arrested in 2019.
“While continuing to fulfill my teaching obligations, I will be stepping back from public commitments as one part of my broader effort to rebuild trust and repair relationships with the people closest to me,” Summers added in his statement.
The emails released last week revealed a close relationship between Epstein and Summers. In an March 2019 exchange, they corresponded about a woman Summers was interested in.
Epstein was in jail awaiting trial on the federal charges when he died by suicide in 2019. Summers has not been accused of taking part in the crimes associated with Epstein.
President Donald Trump directed the Justice Department on Friday to investigate Epstein’s ties with notable Democrats, including Clinton and Summers.
A spokesperson for Clinton said last week that the released emails “prove Bill Clinton did nothing and knew nothing.”
“The rest is noise meant to distract from election losses, backfiring shutdowns, and who knows what else,” the spokesperson said in a statement.
The emails released by Congress mentioned Trump, as well. 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 able to take him down” but did not include further details or context.
Trump has denied any wrongdoing and has not been charged with any criminal activity.
“These emails prove absolutely nothing other than the fact that President Trump did nothing wrong,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters last week.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., called Monday for institutions affiliated with Summers to sever ties with him.
“For decades, Larry Summers has demonstrated his attraction to serving the wealthy and well-connected, but his willingness to cozy up to a convicted sex offender demonstrates monumentally bad judgment,” Warren said in a statement shared with NBC News before Summers said he would be stepping back from his public commitments.
“If he had so little ability to distance himself from Jeffrey Epstein even after all that was publicly known about Epstein’s sex offenses involving underage girls, then Summers cannot be trusted to advise our nation’s politicians, policymakers, and institutions — or teach a generation of students at Harvard or anywhere else,” she added.
Epstein was arrested on federal sex trafficking charges in July 2019. He had been arrested in 2006 after a grand jury indicted him in connection with soliciting prostitution and pleaded guilty to state charges in 2008. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida negotiated a secret non-prosecution agreement with Epstein at the time, which protected him from federal prosecution.
Summers, a former Harvard president, is a tenured professor at the university, serves on the board of OpenAI and is a distinguished senior fellow at the left-leaning Center for American Progress and a contributor at Bloomberg.
A CAP spokesperson said Monday night that Summers’ announcement to step back from public commitments “includes ending 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 was president of Harvard from 2001 to 2006.
Bloomberg did not immediately respond to a request for comment, while OpenAI did not provide a comment.
The House is poised to pass a bill Tuesday that would force the release of the Justice Department’s files on Epstein. Trump, who previously opposed the measure, now says he would sign the measure into law if it makes it through both the House and the Senate.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
Steve Kopack, David Ingram and Daniel Arkin contributed.
