Larry Summers steps back from public role after Epstein emails emerge

Former Harvard president Larry Summers has said he will step back from public commitments after his emails with disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein were made public.

“I am deeply ashamed of my actions and recognise the pain they have caused,” he said in a statement to CBS News, the BBC’s US partner. “I take full responsibility for my misguided decision to continue communicating with Mr Epstein.”

Emails released by Congress last week show Summers, a former US treasury secretary, communicated with Epstein until the day before the paedophile’s 2019 arrest for sex trafficking minors.

On Tuesday, House members are expected to vote on releasing all files related to the late sex offender.

The move comes after the US Department of Justice announced that it would investigate Epstein’s “involvement and relationship” with former President Bill Clinton, who was also a friend of Epstein, and several other prominent Democrats.

The justice department’s decision comes at the urging of US President Donald Trump, who also asked for Summers, LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman and banks JP Morgan and Chase, to be investigated.

Trump was also mentioned in the emails, which do not imply any wrongdoing.

“Epstein was a Democrat, and he is the Democrat’s problem, not the Republican’s problem!” he wrote on social media.

“They all know about him, don’t waste your time with Trump. I have a Country to run!”

Clinton has strongly denied he had any knowledge of Epstein’s crimes.

Summers served as treasury secretary under Clinton and director of the National Economic Council under former President Barack Obama. He was president of Harvard from 2001 to 2006 and is currently a professor there.

Summers said in his statement on Monday night that he wanted “to rebuild trust and repair relationships with the people closest to me”.

“While continuing to fulfil my teaching obligations, I will be stepping back from public commitments as one part of my broader effort,” he said.

The Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank in Washington where Summers was a senior fellow, also announced on Monday that he was no longer affiliated with the organisation.

Summers is still listed as a member of ChatGPT-maker OpenAI’s board, which he joined in 2023 following a failed attempt to oust its chief executive Sam Altman. The BBC has contacted OpenAI and a representative for Summers about whether he will remain a director at the company.

The emails released by the House Oversight Committee last week indicate that Summers and Epstein met for dinner frequently, with Epstein often trying to connect Summers to prominent global figures. At one point, in July 2018, Epstein proposed a meeting with the “president [sic] of united nations, interesting person for you”.

In a separate email just after Trump’s first election in 2016, Summers told Epstein to “spend zero effort on anything about me with Trump”.

Due to Trump’s “approach to conflict of interest”, Putin “proximity” and “mindless response” to Cuban leader Fidel Castro’s death, Summers said he was “best off a million miles away”.

A representative for Summers previously told US media that he “deeply regrets being in contact with Epstein after his conviction” in 2008 for soliciting an underage prostitute.

The emails mention many high-profile figures. A review by the Wall Street Journal found Trump was mentioned in more than 1,600 of the 2,324 email threads.

He has repeatedly said he severed contact with the financier before his 2008 conviction and was unaware of his criminal activity. Trump has consistently denied any wrongdoing in relation to Epstein.

While he was discussed in some of the messages released last week, he did not send or receive them.