Larry Summers, who served as Treasury secretary under President Bill Clinton, said Monday he would step back from public commitments following the recent release of his report. correspondence with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
“I am deeply ashamed of my actions and recognize the pain they caused. I take full responsibility for my poor decision to continue to engage with Mr. Epstein,” Summers said in a statement.
The House Oversight Committee last week released over 20,000 emails from Epstein's estatewhich included extensive correspondence between the disgraced financier and Summers. The most recent incident occurred the day before Epstein's arrest in 2019.
“As I continue to fulfill my teaching responsibilities, I will be stepping back from public commitments as part of my broader efforts to rebuild trust and relationships with those closest to me,” Summers added in his statement.
Emails released last week revealed a close relationship between Epstein and Summers. In March 2019, they corresponded about a woman Summers was interested in.
Epstein was in jail awaiting trial on federal charges when he committed suicide in 2019. Summers was not accused of participating in crimes related to Epstein.
President Donald Trump headed the Ministry of Justice on Friday to investigate Epstein's ties to prominent Democrats, including Clinton and Summers.
Last week, a Clinton spokesman said the released emails “prove that Bill Clinton did nothing and knew nothing.”
“The rest is noise designed to distract attention from election defeats, disastrous shutdowns and God knows what else,” the spokesperson said in a statement.
Trump was also mentioned in the emails released by Congress. In one email, 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 who was able to bring him down” but did not include additional 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 Caroline Leavitt told reporters last week.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., on Monday called on institutions associated with Summers to cut ties with him.
“For decades, Larry Summers has demonstrated his passion for serving the wealthy and well-connected, but his willingness to befriend a convicted sex offender demonstrates an incredibly misguided approach,” Warren said in a statement provided to NBC News before Summers said he would step back from his public engagements.
“If he had so little opportunity to distance himself from Jeffrey Epstein, even after all that was publicly known about Epstein's sexual crimes involving underage girls, then Summers cannot be trusted to advise our country's politicians, politicians and institutions—or to teach a generation of students at Harvard or anywhere else,” she added.
Epstein was arrested on federal sex trafficking charges in July 2019. He was arrested in 2006 after being indicted by a grand jury on prostitution charges and pleading guilty to state charges in 2008. United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida At the time, he entered into a secret non-prosecution agreement with Epstein that protected him from federal prosecution.
Summers, a former president of Harvard, is a tenured university professor, serves on the board of directors of OpenAI, is a distinguished senior fellow at the left-leaning Center for American Progress, and is a Bloomberg contributor.
A CAP spokesman said Monday evening that Summers' announcement to withdraw from public engagements “includes the termination of his internship” at the Washington think tank.
Harvard did not immediately respond to a request for comment on whether Summers' status at the university has changed since his announcement.
Summers was president of Harvard from 2001 to 2006.
Bloomberg did not immediately respond to a request for comment, and OpenAI did not provide comment.
The House is set to pass a bill Tuesday that would require the release of Justice Department files on Epstein. Trump, who previously opposed the measure, now he says he will sign the law into law if it passes the House and Senate.
This developing story. Please check back for updates.
Steve Kopack, David Ingram And Daniel Arkin contributed.
