'I am deeply ashamed': Larry Summers to step back from public commitments after new Epstein emails
Sen. Elizabeth Warren had called for institutions affiliated with Summers, who was treasury secretary during the Clinton administration, to sever ties with him.
Larry Summers, who was treasury secretary under President Bill Clinton, said Monday that he will be stepping back from public commitments following the recent publication of his correspondence with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
“I am deeply ashamed of my actions and recognize the pain they have caused. I take full responsibility for my misguided decision to continue communicating with Mr. Epstein,” Summers said in a statement.
The House Oversight Committee last week released more than 20,000 emails from Epstein’s estate, which included extensive correspondence between the disgraced financier and Summers. The most recent one was from the day before Epstein was arrested in 2019.
“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,” Summers added in his statement.
https://media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com/image/upload/t_fit-560w,f_auto,q_auto:best/rockcms/2025-11/251117-larry-summers-mn-2020-376229.jpg 1x" />https://media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com/image/upload/t_fit-760w,f_auto,q_auto:best/rockcms/2025-11/251117-larry-summers-mn-2020-376229.jpg 1x" /> Larry Summers at the annual technology conference in Sun Valley, Idaho, in July.David Paul Morris / Bloomberg via Getty Images file
The emails released last week revealed a close relationship between Epstein and Summers. In an March 2019 exchange, they corresponded about a woman Summers was interested in.
Epstein was in jail awaiting trial on the federal charges when he died by suicide in 2019. Summers has not been accused of taking part in the crimes associated with Epstein.
President Donald Trump directed the Justice Department on Friday to investigate Epstein’s ties with notable Democrats, including Clinton and Summers.
A spokesperson for Clinton said last week that the released emails “prove Bill Clinton did nothing and knew nothing.”
“The rest is noise meant to distract from election losses, backfiring shutdowns, and who knows what else,” the spokesperson said in a statement.
The emails released by Congress mentioned Trump, as well. In one of the emails, 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 able to take him down" but did not include further 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 Karoline Leavitt told reporters last week.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., called Monday for institutions affiliated with Summers to sever ties with him.
"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 in a statement shared with NBC News before Summers said he would be stepping back from his public commitments.
https://media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com/image/upload/t_fit-560w,f_auto,q_auto:best/rockcms/2025-11/251117-larry-summers-bill-clinton-mn-2030-37efb7.jpg 1x" />https://media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com/image/upload/t_fit-760w,f_auto,q_auto:best/rockcms/2025-11/251117-larry-summers-bill-clinton-mn-2030-37efb7.jpg 1x" /> Treasury Secretary Larry Summers and President Bill Clinton talk at the White House in 1999.Dirck Halstead / Getty Images file
"If he had so little ability to distance himself from Jeffrey Epstein even after all that was publicly known about Epstein’s sex offenses involving underage girls, then Summers cannot be trusted to advise our nation’s politicians, policymakers, and institutions — or teach a generation of students at Harvard or anywhere else," she added.
Epstein was arrested on federal sex trafficking charges in July 2019. He had been arrested in 2006 after a grand jury indicted him in connection with soliciting prostitution and pleaded guilty to state charges in 2008. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida negotiated a secret non-prosecution agreement with Epstein at the time, which protected him from federal prosecution.
Summers, a former Harvard president, is a tenured professor at the university, serves on the board of OpenAI, is a distinguished senior fellow at the left-leaning Center for American Progress and a contributor at Bloomberg, and has served as an adviser at the Yale Budget Lab.
A CAP spokesperson said Monday night that Summers' announcement to step back from public commitments "includes ending his fellowship" at the Washington-based think tank.
Harvard did not immediately respond to a request for comment on whether Summers’ status at the university had changed following his announcement.
Summers was president of Harvard from 2001 to 2006.
As of Tuesday morning, Summers was still listed as a board member of OpenAI on its website.
Bloomberg did not immediately respond to a request for comment, while OpenAI did not provide a comment.
The House is poised to pass a bill Tuesday that would force the release of the Justice Department's files on Epstein. Trump, who previously opposed the measure, now says he would sign the measure into law if it makes it through both the House and the Senate.
Maine Center For Public Interest Reporting – Three Part Series: A CRITICAL LOOK AT MAINE’S WIND ACT
******** IF LINKS BELOW DON'T WORK, GOOGLE THEM*********
(excerpts) From Part 1 – On Maine’s Wind Law “Once the committee passed the wind energy bill on to the full House and Senate, lawmakers there didn’t even debate it. They passed it unanimously and with no discussion. House Majority Leader Hannah Pingree, a Democrat from North Haven, says legislators probably didn’t know how many turbines would be constructed in Maine if the law’s goals were met." . – Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting, August 2010 https://www.pinetreewatchdog.org/wind-power-bandwagon-hits-bumps-in-the-road-3/From Part 2 – On Wind and Oil Yet using wind energy doesn’t lower dependence on imported foreign oil. That’s because the majority of imported oil in Maine is used for heating and transportation. And switching our dependence from foreign oil to Maine-produced electricity isn’t likely to happen very soon, says Bartlett. “Right now, people can’t switch to electric cars and heating – if they did, we’d be in trouble.” So was one of the fundamental premises of the task force false, or at least misleading?" https://www.pinetreewatchdog.org/wind-swept-task-force-set-the-rules/From Part 3 – On Wind-Required New Transmission Lines Finally, the building of enormous, high-voltage transmission lines that the regional electricity system operator says are required to move substantial amounts of wind power to markets south of Maine was never even discussed by the task force – an omission that Mills said will come to haunt the state.“If you try to put 2,500 or 3,000 megawatts in northern or eastern Maine – oh, my god, try to build the transmission!” said Mills. “It’s not just the towers, it’s the lines – that’s when I begin to think that the goal is a little farfetched.” https://www.pinetreewatchdog.org/flaws-in-bill-like-skating-with-dull-skates/
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Hannah Pingree on the Maine expedited wind law
Hannah Pingree - Director of Maine's Office of Innovation and the Future
"Once the committee passed the wind energy bill on to the full House and Senate, lawmakers there didn’t even debate it. They passed it unanimously and with no discussion. House Majority Leader Hannah Pingree, a Democrat from North Haven, says legislators probably didn’t know how many turbines would be constructed in Maine."
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