Larry Summers Retreats From Public Life Amid Epstein Email Fallout

Former Harvard University president and Clinton Treasury Secretary Larry Summers is stepping back from public life following the bombshell release of thousands of emails detailing his years-long relationship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Summers’ announcement came Monday in a statement to The Harvard Crimson, where he admitted to “a major error of judgment” and said he would reduce his public profile to “rebuild trust and repair relationships.”

The decision follows the U.S. House Oversight Committee’s release of more than 20,000 pages of communications between Summers and Epstein spanning from 2012 to mid-2019—just weeks before Epstein’s arrest on sex trafficking charges. The documents paint a damning picture of a deep and ongoing personal rapport between the disgraced financier and one of America’s most prominent economists.

In the emails, Summers repeatedly sought Epstein’s input on personal and professional matters. At one point, he referred to a romantic interest as his “mentee,” to which Epstein responded with advice signed off as “your wing man.” In another exchange, Summers made offhand remarks about women’s intelligence, echoing themes that helped lead to his 2006 resignation from Harvard after controversial comments on gender and aptitude in science.

Perhaps most concerning is the financial entanglement. In 2016, Epstein donated $110,000 to Poetry in America, a nonprofit run by Summers’ wife, Harvard English professor emerita Elisa New. Emails reveal Epstein later offered up to $500,000 more in 2017—long after his 2008 conviction for soliciting sex from a minor.

Summers admitted the continued contact was indefensible. “I am deeply ashamed,” he said in his statement. “I accept full responsibility for my misguided decision to continue communicating with Mr. Epstein.”

Despite the backlash, Summers will retain his tenured faculty position at Harvard and continue directing the Mossavar Rahmani Center for Business and Government. He will also remain on the board of OpenAI and continue publishing columns for Bloomberg, though a spokesman confirmed he will scale back other professional activities.

Critics aren’t satisfied. A senior Trump administration official slammed Summers’ ongoing roles in academia and corporate America, saying the revelations “raise serious questions about how institutions define accountability.” The official pointed to Britain’s dismissal of former ambassador Peter Mandelson for similar Epstein links as a model response.

Epstein’s ties to Harvard—and to Summers in particular—have long been a source of controversy. Epstein donated millions to the university during Summers’ tenure as president from 2001 to 2006. While Harvard claimed to have cut ties with Epstein in 2008, the newly released emails suggest he continued to exert quiet influence over university-affiliated figures nearly a decade later.

Neither Harvard, OpenAI, nor Bloomberg offered comment on the matter.

For now, Summers’ public retreat appears to be a calculated damage-control move—but whether it’s enough to shield him from further fallout remains to be seen.