Larry Summers steps back from public role after Epstein emails emerge

Former Harvard University president Larry Summers says he will backtrack on public commitments after his emails with disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein were made public.

“I am deeply ashamed of my actions and aware of the pain they have caused,” he told the BBC’s US partner CBS News.

Emails released by a House committee last week show that Summers, the former US treasury secretary, communicated with Epstein until the day before Epstein was arrested in 2019 for alleged sex trafficking of minors.

On Tuesday, House members are expected to vote on a measure calling for the release of all files on Epstein that have not yet been made public.

The measure will then go to the Senate and require approval from US President Donald Trump.

Summers served as treasury secretary under former President Bill Clinton and director of the National Economic Council under former President Barack Obama. He was president of Harvard from 2001 to 2006 and currently serves as a professor there.

“I take full responsibility for my poor decision to continue communicating with Mr. Epstein,” he wrote in a statement Monday.

He added that he wanted to “rebuild trust and repair relationships with the people closest to me.”

“While I continue to fulfill my teaching obligations, I will step back from public commitments as part of my broader efforts,” Summers wrote.

The Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank in Washington where Summers is a senior fellow, also announced Monday that Summers is no longer affiliated with the organization.

Summers is still listed as a board member of ChatGPT maker OpenAI, joining the group in 2023 after a failed attempt to oust its CEO Sam Altman. The BBC has contacted a representative of OpenAI and Summers about whether Summers will remain at the company as a director.

Summers’ move comes after the U.S. Department of Justice announced it would investigate Epstein’s “affair and association” with former President Bill Clinton, who was also a friend of Epstein’s, and several other prominent Democrats.

Clinton vehemently denied any knowledge of Epstein’s crimes.

The ministry’s decision came on the call of Trump, who also wanted Summers, LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman and JP Morgan and Chase banks to be investigated.

Hoffman has yet to comment. A spokesperson for JPMorgan Chase said the firm regretted “any association” with Epstein, adding that it “did not help him carry out his heinous acts.”

Trump was Also mentioned in emailsIt does not imply any mistake.

“Epstein was a Democrat, and he is a Democrat problem, not a Republican problem!” he wrote on social media.

“They all know it, don’t waste your time with Trump. I have a Country to rule!”

Emails released last week by the House Oversight Committee show Summers and Epstein frequently met for dinner and that Epstein often tried to connect Summers with prominent global figures. At one point, in July 2018, Epstein proposed a meeting with “the president.” [sic] united nations, you are an interesting person”.

In a separate email just after Trump’s 2016 primary, Summers told Epstein “not to do anything with Trump about me.”

Because of Trump’s “approach to conflict of interest,” Putin’s “closeness” and his “unhinged response” to the death of Cuban leader Fidel Castro, Summers said it was “best to be a million miles away.”

A representative for Summers previously told US media that he was “deeply saddened to have been in contact with Epstein” after Epstein was convicted in 2008 of soliciting a minor for prostitution.

Many high-profile names are mentioned in the emails. A review by the Wall Street Journal found Trump was mentioned in more than 1,600 of 2,324 email threads.

Trump has repeatedly said he broke off contact with the financier years before Epstein was convicted in 2008 and was unaware of his criminal activities. He has consistently denied any wrongdoing regarding Epstein.

While Trump was mentioned in some of the messages released last week, he did not send or receive them.