Last week, the House of Representatives released a cache of emails to and from Jeffrey Epstein from a multi-year period. The emails were fascinating and grotesque for many reasons, including all of the mentions of Donald Trump and Trump’s inner circle. But I was deeply disturbed by how many powerful people, elites and academics were emailing regularly with Epstein well after everyone knew who he was and what he had done. Larry Summers was one of those people – Summers is a former Treasury Secretary and former president of Harvard. He regularly emailed back and forth with Epstein, sharing sexist jokes and gossip. The emails were bonkers. Well, now we’re getting some fallout: Summers promises to “step back from public life.”
Former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers in a statement Monday said he would be stepping back from public life and expressed deep regret for past messages with the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein in the wake of new revelations about the extent of their relationship.
“I am deeply ashamed of my actions and recognize the pain they have caused,” he told POLITICO. “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.”
Emails revealed that Summers, who served as Treasury secretary under President Bill Clinton and a top adviser to President Barack Obama, repeatedly sought advice from Epstein on romantically pursuing a woman he referred to as his mentee. Epstein in one message referred to himself as the prominent economist’s “wing man.” Summers in another exchange suggested women in aggregate have a lower IQ than men.
Summers’ comment comes after a senior Trump administration official and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) each called on institutions to sever ties with Summers.
The statement leaves question marks hanging over the fate of several positions Summers occupies, which include a board seat at OpenAI, a tenured position at Harvard, an unpaid nonresident fellow position at the liberal Center for American Progress think tank and a paid contributor role at Bloomberg News. A Summers spokesperson declined to answer a direct question about those roles.
Earlier Monday, Bloomberg declined to comment, and OpenAI and Harvard did not respond to requests for comment. Also ahead of Summers’ statement, CAP said it was “reviewing last week’s disclosures to determine appropriate next steps.”
Much like the Andrew Mountbatten Windsor fiasco, it’s remarkable to see powerful institutions take a wait-and-see approach to the huge scandal of “one of our guys was super-chummy with a convicted p3do.” Like, this is not difficult. Cut ties, publicly and thoroughly. This should not even be Summers’ call – Harvard should have said immediately “we want nothing to do with him from here.” Same with OpenAI, the Center of American Progress and Bloomberg News.
Photos courtesy of Getty.
So nice to see Larry Summers finally get his due.
I’d rather see him step into a jail cell than step back from public life.
The dominoes are falling. The Center of American Progress and Yale have cut ties. Harvard will be interesting – he’s tenured and runs a center for business and policy, plus teaching. It might take more time to disentangle him, or they might not do anything.
Idk, maybe it’s just me but it seems like a teaching position is not at all appropriate for him. They need to fire his ass. Surely, his contract with Harvard has some kind of “morals” clause they could invoke, especially since this is not his first rodeo of misogynistic controversy. And, oh the irony! Someone from the Trump regime is tut-tutting?
I hope those people closest to him – the ones that he wants to “repair his relationships with” – hold him accountable for his relationship with Epstein and also his hurtful and incorrect comments around women. If he was so smart, he would know the IQ comment was false. He needs to realize his need to feel superior is guiding his thoughts.
I doubt they will since he probably holds the purse strings
Harvard needs to publicly cut ties with him or they look gross.
Too late for that!
He’s only sorry he got caught.
I don’t care who is implicated in the Epstein files. Expose them ALL. I don’t care what party they are, if they were involved with Epstein, expose them. That is the only way to put this nasty scandal down for once and for all. This is way worse than Watergate.
ITA and plenty of Dems will be implicated. I’m beyond party loyalty. Our county needs a full reboot.
Harvard should have fired him for cause the minute that email of him joking with Epstein about pressuring one of his students for a “relationship” became public.
Hell – he was tied to Epstein years ago and Harvard should’ve investigated and fired him then.
You just know Harvard has a file on his questionable behavior with students and junior faculty.
Remember that he’s long publicly said that women make terrible economists and their pursuit is a waste of space. He shouldn’t been fired then.
What life? The man is on death’s door, he looks like Corpse taker
I bet my IQ is higher than Larry Summers’.