Larry Summers steps back from public roles after Jeffrey Epstein emails
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Former Harvard University president Larry Summers has announced he will step back from public commitments, according to the Ivy League college’s student newspaper.
In a statement released Monday Harvard CrimsonSummers said it was part of an effort to “rebuild trust and repair relationships with the people closest to me.”
The announcement follows the release of seven-year-old correspondence between Summers and disgraced financier Jeffrey E. Epstein by the United States House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.
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Former Harvard president Larry Summers withdrew from public commitments after it was revealed that he had ongoing communications with disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein. (Photo: Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
Documents showed the two men continued to exchange messages until July 5, 2019; This was just one day before Epstein was arrested on new sex trafficking charges.
Hundreds of published messages showed Summers confiding in Epstein and admitting to him that he was seeking a romantic relationship with a woman he described as a mentee.
Among the messages released was one dated November 2018, in which Epstein described himself as Summers’ “wingman,” who continued to offer relationship advice to Summers for months.
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Billionaire Jeffrey Epstein in Cambridge, MA on 9/8/04. Epstein has connections to many prominent people, including politicians, actors and academics. Epstein was convicted of having sex with an underage woman. (Photo: Rick Friedman/Rick Friedman Photography/Corbis via Getty Images)
“I am deeply ashamed of my actions and aware of the pain they have caused,” Summers wrote in a statement to the Crimson.
“I take full responsibility for my poor decision to continue communicating with Mr. Epstein,” he added.
Summers has a variety of roles in his professional life. He is a senior fellow at the think tank Center for American Progress, a paid columnist for Bloomberg News, and a board member of OpenAI.
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Larry Summers, president emeritus and professor at Harvard University, at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, on Tuesday, January 21, 2025. (Stefan Wermuth/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
He also remains a University Professor at Harvard and serves as director of the Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government at the Harvard Kennedy School, and will continue to oversee that center, his spokesman said, according to the outlet.
In his statement on Monday, the former Harvard president added: “While I continue to fulfill my teaching obligations, I will step back from public commitments as part of my broader efforts.”
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Fox News Digital has reached out to Harvard University for comment.
