Former Harvard president Larry Summers has apologised and says he will be stepping back from public life after his email exchanges with the disgraced financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein were made public.
“I am deeply ashamed of my actions and recognise the pain they have caused. I take full responsibility for my misguided decision to continue communicating with Mr. Epstein,” Summers said in a statement published by CBS News on Monday.
“While continuing to fulfil my teaching obligations, I 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,” he said.
The emails were among the 20,000 pages of documents obtained from Epstein’s estate and released last week by the United States House Committee on Oversight amid ongoing questions about the ex-financier’s relationship with President Donald Trump.
Epstein died by suicide in August 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. He was previously convicted in 2008 for soliciting prostitution and soliciting prostitution from a minor, but he served a light 13-month sentence. Before his downfall in 2019, Epstein was in constant contact with world leaders, celebrities, and high-profile figures like Summers.
The emails between Epstein and Summers span from at least 2017 to 2019 and cover a range of topics, including US foreign policy to Trump’s first presidency, as well as personal matters.
In one email from 2017, Summers advises Epstein that his “pal”, billionaire Thomas Barrack Jr, should stay out of the press following a Washington Post story about Barrack Jr’s relationship with both Trump and political lobbyist Paul Manafort.
