Ex-Harvard president Larry Summers stops teaching while university investigates Epstein emails

Harvard University professor Larry Summers has taken a leave of absence while the school investigates his and others’ ties to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, a spokesman confirmed.

The former US treasury secretary and one-time Harvard president will retire from teaching and leave his post as director of the Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government at the Harvard Kennedy School.

A spokesman told the BBC’s US partner CBS News that Summers believed “this was in the Centre’s interest”.

Recently released emails show Summers corresponded with Epstein until the day before the financier was arrested in 2019 for alleged sex trafficking of minors.

The university said in a statement to The Harvard Crimson that it was “conducting a review of information about individuals at Harvard contained in the newly released Jeffrey Epstein documents.”

The BBC contacted Summers for comment on Harvard’s new review.

On Tuesday, Summers described her communications with Epstein to students in a class she taught at Harvard.

According to video recorded by a student, Summers told his students: “Some of you may have seen my statement of remorse expressing my shame for my actions while in contact with Mr. Epstein. You also noted that I said I would step back from public activities.”

“I think it is very important to fulfill my teaching obligations. So with your permission, we will go forward and talk about the materials in class.”

But on Wednesday night, Summers spokesman Steven Goldberg told CBS that “the aide teachers will complete the remaining three sessions of the classes he teaches with them this semester, and he is not scheduled to teach next semester.”

The public backlash against Summers began last week when Congress released more than 20,000 pages of documents from the so-called Epstein files, which included numerous emails between Epstein and Summers.

Timestamps on the emails showed the two had been communicating as far back as the day before Epstein’s arrest; This was a decade after Epstein pleaded guilty to soliciting prostitution from an underage girl.

Summers, a married father of six, texted Epstein in November 2018, asking for romantic advice about his interest in someone he said saw him as an “economic mentor.”

“For now, consider that I will not go anywhere with him other than as an economic advisor,” Summers wrote in a conversation in which Epstein referred to him as Summers’ “wingman.”

“Am I thanking him or am I upset that I’m married? I think it’s the former,” she wrote in another email.

The emails also stated that Summers and Epstein frequently dined together and that Epstein often tried to connect Summers with leading global figures.

None of Epstein’s survivors have accused Summers of wrongdoing, and there is no publicly available evidence to suggest she was involved in any of Epstein’s crimes.

Summers announced he was leaving the board of OpenAI earlier Wednesday, and the artificial intelligence company said it respected Summers’ decision to resign.

“We appreciate his many contributions and the perspective he brings to the Board,” OpenAI said.

He joined the board of OpenAI, which created ChatGPT, in 2023 after an unsuccessful attempt to oust its chief executive, Sam Altman.

Summers told the BBC about the move that he was “grateful for the opportunity to serve, excited about the potential of the company and looks forward to following their progress.”

After the emails were made public, Summers said he “takes full responsibility for my poor decision to continue communicating with Mr. Epstein.”

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

Summers held senior positions under two Democratic presidents; He served as treasury secretary under Bill Clinton and director of the National Economic Council under Barack Obama. He directed Harvard from 2001 to 2006 and remained a professor there.

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

Both chambers of Congress agreed Tuesday to pass a measure that would require the U.S. justice department to release its files on Epstein, paving the way for the possible release of tens of thousands more documents.

President Donald Trump signed the bill Wednesday after reversing his stance on the issue following backlash from his supporters.