Former U.S. treasury secretary Larry Summers announced on Monday that he would be withdrawing from all public engagements. This decision comes shortly after President Donald Trump directed the Justice Department to investigate Summers and other prominent Democrats for their connections to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Summers, a Harvard professor and former university president, shared with the student newspaper his intention to step back in order to rebuild trust and mend relationships with those closest to him.
The move follows the release of numerous files by the U.S. House Oversight Committee related to Epstein, which included correspondence between Summers and Epstein. Expressing regret for his actions, Summers acknowledged the harm caused and took full responsibility for his inappropriate decision to maintain communication with Epstein. While fulfilling his teaching responsibilities, Summers stated that he would be reducing his public commitments as part of his broader efforts to address the situation.
A Democrat, Summers previously served as treasury secretary under President Bill Clinton and led the National Economic Council during President Barack Obama’s administration. He currently holds positions on the boards of OpenAI and the Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government at Harvard Kennedy School. Both OpenAI and Harvard have not yet provided comments on the matter, and Summers has yet to respond to requests for statements.
The Epstein scandal has posed challenges for Trump, particularly due to his promotion of conspiracy theories surrounding Epstein. Some of Trump’s supporters believe that U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi and other administration officials have concealed Epstein’s connections to influential individuals and obscured details surrounding his suicide in a Manhattan jail in 2019. The House of Representatives is scheduled to vote on Tuesday regarding the release of investigative files on Epstein, a move that Trump, despite initial opposition, has now encouraged fellow Republicans to support.