Topline
Former U.S. Treasury Secretary Larry Summers issued a statement on Monday night announcing that he will step back from his public commitments after the set of Jeffrey Epstein-related documents released by the House Oversight Committee brought to light multiple email interactions he had with the convicted sex offender.
Former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers announced he is stepping back from all his public commitments after dozens of emails exchanges between him and Jeffrey Epstein came to light.
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Key Facts
Summers, who also served as the president of Harvard University, sent a statement to the school’s student newspaper, The Harvard Crimson, saying: “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,” the statement added.
Summers said he will continue to fulfill his “teaching obligations,” but 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’ statement didn’t name the roles he will be stepping back from, but the New York Times reported that Summers will be stepping down from the advisory board position at the Yale Budget Lab, a policy research center at Yale University.
Citing an unnamed spokesperson, the Times report added that Summers is also ending his fellowship at the Center for American Progress.
Both the Yale Budget Lab and the Center for American Progress websites have scrubbed Summers’ profile page, with the latter displaying a message which reads: “Lawrence H. Summers is no longer with the Center for American Progress.”
What To Watch For
At the time of publishing, ChatGPT-maker OpenAI’s website still displayed Summers’ name as one of the members of its board of directors. It is unclear whether Summers has also exited this role. Summers also holds a tenured position at Harvard University, and his profile page on the school’s website is still active, noting that he is “the Charles W. Eliot University Professor and President Emeritus at Harvard University.” The page also mentions that he is the director of the Harvard Kennedy School’s Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government.