Larry Summers, a former president at Harvard University who served in the Clinton and Obama administrations, resigned from his academic appointments at the Ivy League school on Wednesday. The resignation comes after the recent release of Epstein-related documents revealed Summers’ extensive correspondence with the convicted sex offender, which lasted from 2013 until just four months before Epstein’s arrest on federal charges.
Summers also relinquished his Harvard University Professorship, which is the highest faculty honor at the school, the Harvard Crimson reported. The former U.S. Treasury secretary and National Economic Council director said the decision to step down from his role at Harvard was “difficult,” but added that it would give him more time to focus on “research, analysis, and commentary on a range of global economic issues.”
Summers has faced increasing criticism over his close relationship with Epstein, the extent of which was revealed when the Justice Department began releasing millions of documents from Epstein’s estate. As the backlash grew, Summers announced last November that he would take a step back from his regular public appearances. Summers has not been accused of any criminal conduct related to Epstein’s sex-trafficking of girls.
The former Clinton and Obama official said in November, “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 conversed regularly with Epstein in the years after Epstein pled guilty to procuring a child for prostitution in 2008. Among the numerous emails and text messages exchanged between the married Summers and Epstein, Summers asked Epstein for advice on pursuing a relationship with a woman described as his mentee.
“We talked on phone. Then ‘I can’t talk later.’ [Don’t] think I can talk tomorrow,'” Summers wrote to Epstein on March 16, 2019.
“I said what are you up to. She said ‘I’m busy’= I said awfully coy u are. And then I said. Did u really rearrange the weekend we were going to [be] together because guy number 3 was coming. She said no his schedule changed after we changed our plans. I said ok I got to go call me when u feel like it. Tone was not of goo= feeling. I [don’t] want to be in a gift giving competition while being the friend [w]ithout benefits. Think time to just stay away for a while. If there is potential here s=e II [sic] find way back.”
Epstein replied 11 minutes later, writing, “shes smart. making you pay for past errors … ignore [the] daddy im going to
go out with the motorcycle guy … you reacted well … annoyed shows caring … no whining showed strentgh [sic throughout].”
Those messages were among the final conversations Summers had with Epstein before Epstein was arrested by the feds and placed in jail in New York. Epstein was found dead in his jail cell on August 10, 2019, in what federal authorities have ruled a suicide.
Other messages Summers sent to Epstein included discussions on politics and projects at Harvard. In one message that was sent less than a month before the 2016 election, Summers asked Epstein, “How plausible is idea that trump [sic] is real cocaine user?” In another October 2016 email, Epstein asked Summers if a friend he referred to as “Rothschild” could be given a tour of Harvard.
Amid the backlash over his close ties to Epstein, Summers was dropped by The New York Times, where he was a contributing opinion writer. He also resigned from the board of directors of OpenAI.
Summers’ resignation from his Harvard professorship comes just one day after Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates apologized to his staff at the Gates Foundation over his relationship with Epstein, and admitted to affairs he had with two Russian women. Gates assured his foundation that the women were not victims of Epstein’s sex-trafficking scheme, adding, “I did nothing illicit. I saw nothing illicit. To be clear I never spent any time with victims, the women around [Epstein].”
Gates, like Summers, has been a major supporter of the Democratic Party and donated $50 million to a dark money group that backed Kamala Harris in the 2024 election.
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