Former U.S. Treasury Secretary Larry Summers announced on Monday that he will be withdrawing from all public commitments. This decision follows President Donald Trump’s directive to the Justice Department to investigate ties between Summers and other prominent Democrats with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Summers, a Harvard professor and former president of the university, expressed that this step is necessary to rebuild trust and mend relationships with those closest to him.
The move comes in the wake of the release of thousands of files related to Epstein by the U.S. House Oversight Committee. Among these documents are personal communications between Summers and Epstein. Summers admitted his regret over his actions, acknowledging the harm caused by his decision to maintain contact with Epstein. He emphasized taking full responsibility for his misguided choices and stated his intention to scale back public commitments while continuing his teaching responsibilities.
Summers, a Democrat who previously served as Treasury Secretary under President Bill Clinton and led the National Economic Council during President Barack Obama’s administration, is currently affiliated with OpenAI and serves as a director at the Harvard Kennedy School’s Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government. Both OpenAI and Harvard have not provided immediate responses to requests for comments, and Summers himself has not yet responded.
The Epstein scandal has been a contentious issue for Trump, with the President facing criticism for promoting conspiracy theories about Epstein. There are allegations from many Trump supporters that U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi and other officials within the administration have concealed Epstein’s connections to influential individuals and obscured details surrounding his death by suicide in a Manhattan jail in 2019. The House of Representatives is set to vote on Tuesday on a measure to compel the release of investigative Epstein files, following Trump’s reversal in support of the initiative, urging fellow Republicans to back the move.