‘Deeply ashamed’ Larry Summers steps back from public life over Epstein links

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https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/nov/17/larry-summers-jeffrey-epstein

Larry Summers at the New Work Summit in Half Moon Bay, California, in 2019. Photograph: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Former treasury secretary steps away to ‘rebuild trust’ after severe backlash but will continue teaching Harvard classes

The Harvard professor and economist Larry Summers said he would be stepping back from public life after documents released by the House oversight committee revealed email exchanges between Summers and the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, who called himself Summers’ “wing man”.

Politico reported on Monday that Summers, a former treasury secretary, expressed deep regret for past messages with Epstein.

“I am deeply ashamed of my actions and recognize the pain they have caused,” he told Politico in a statement.

“I take full responsibility for my misguided decision to continue communicating with Mr Epstein. While continuing to fulfill my teaching obligations, I will be stepping back from public commitments as one part of my broader effort to rebuild trust and repair relationships with the people closest to me.”

Besides Summers, the emails released last week revealed how Epstein maintained contact with other business executives, reporters, academics and political players despite his 2008 guilty plea for soliciting prostitution from an underage girl.

“For decades, Larry Summers has demonstrated his attraction to serving the wealthy and well-connected, but his willingness to cozy up to a convicted sex offender demonstrates monumentally bad judgment,” Warren said to CNN.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/nov/17/larry-summers-jeffrey-epstein

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