Former Harvard University President Larry Summers says he will withdraw from public engagements following the release of emails showing he maintained contact with disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein.
“I am deeply ashamed of my actions and recognise the pain they have caused. I take full responsibility for my misguided decision to continue communicating with Mr. Epstein,” Summers said in a statement obtained by CBS News on Monday.
Emails released by Congress last week show that Summers a former U.S. Treasury Secretary exchanged messages with Epstein up until the day before Epstein was arrested in 2019 on charges of sex trafficking minors.
House members are expected to vote Tuesday on whether to make all Epstein-related files public. The vote follows the U.S. Justice Department’s announcement of a new inquiry into Epstein’s connections with former President Bill Clinton and other prominent Democrats. The move came after pressure from Donald Trump, who also called for investigations into Summers, LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman, and banking giants JP Morgan and Chase.
“Epstein was a Democrat, and he is the Democrat’s problem, not the Republican’s problem!” Trump wrote on social media, insisting that his own ties to Epstein be ignored. Clinton has repeatedly denied knowing anything about Epstein’s crimes.
Summers, who served as Treasury Secretary under Clinton and later led the National Economic Council in the Obama administration, was Harvard’s president from 2001 to 2006. He is currently a professor at the university.
In his Monday statement, Summers said he hopes “to rebuild trust and repair relationships with the people closest to me,” adding that while he will continue teaching, he will “step back from public commitments” as part of that effort.
The Center for American Progress, a liberal Washington think tank where Summers was a senior fellow, announced Monday that he is no longer affiliated with the organisation.
Emails released by the House Oversight Committee show Summers and Epstein met often for dinner, with Epstein trying to connect Summers to influential global figures. In one 2018 email, Epstein suggested arranging a meeting with the president of the United Nations. In another message shortly after Trump’s 2016 election, Summers urged Epstein to avoid any attempts to link him to the new administration, citing Trump’s handling of conflicts of interest and concerns about foreign influence.
A representative for Summers has previously said he “deeply regrets being in contact with Epstein after his 2008 conviction” for soliciting an underage girl.
The documents also reference many high-profile figures. A Wall Street Journal review found Trump’s name mentioned in more than 1,600 of the 2,324 email threads though he did not send or receive any of the messages released. Trump and Epstein were once friends, but Trump claims they fell out in the early 2000s. He has consistently denied any wrongdoing.
