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Former U.S. treasury secretary Larry Summers said on Monday he will step back from all public commitments, days after President Donald Trump ordered the Justice Department to investigate his and other prominent Democrats’ ties to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Summers, who is a professor at Harvard, and its former president, told the university’s student newspaper that the move was to allow him “to rebuild trust and repair relationships with the people closest to me.”
The announcement came after the U.S. House Oversight Committee released thousands of files related to Epstein last week, including documents that showed personal correspondence between Summers and 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 told The Crimson newspaper.
“While continuing to fulfil my teaching obligations, I will be stepping back from public commitments as one part of my broader effort.”
U.S. President Donald Trump has reversed course and is encouraging Republicans to support a bill compelling the government to release all of the files related to the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, who died by suicide while awaiting trial on charges of sex trafficking minors.
Summers, a Democrat, served as treasury secretary for President Bill Clinton and headed the National Economic Council under President Barack Obama. He currently serves on the board of OpenAI and as a director of the Harvard Kennedy School’s Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government.
OpenAI and Harvard did not immediately respond to requests for comments. Summers also did not immediately respond.
The Epstein scandal has been a political thorn in Trump’s side for months, partly because he amplified conspiracy theories about Epstein to his own supporters.
Many Trump voters believe U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi and other Trump officials have covered up Epstein’s ties to powerful figures and obscured details surrounding his death by suicide in a Manhattan jail in 2019.
The House of Representatives will vote on Tuesday on forcing the release of investigative Epstein files after Trump, who had initially opposed the vote, called on fellow Republicans to support it.
