A top economic adviser to former Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama is stepping away from many of his public commitments after his seven-year email correspondence with human trafficker Jeffrey Epstein was laid bare.
From 2012 through 2019, Larry Summer and Epstein corresponded, according to transcripts of the messages released by the House Oversight Committee as part of its commitment to release all of the Epstein files in the government’s possession, according to Fox News.
Summer, a former Harvard University president who still teaches at Harvard, initially sent his statement to The Harvard Crimson.
“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 wrote.
Larry Summers seems like a solid guy, emailing Jeff Epstein with a casual note mocking women as stupid.
Also lamenting that if you “hit on a few women 10 years ago you can’t work at a network or think tank DO NOT REPEAT THIS INSIGHT”
This email was in 2017. pic.twitter.com/CUmkeRaDkb
— Matt Stoller (@matthewstoller) November 12, 2025
“While continuing to fulfill my teaching obligations, I will be stepping back from public commitments as one part of my broader effort,” he added.
Summers said it was part of an effort “to rebuild trust and repair relationships with the people closest to me,” Fox News reported.
The outlet noted that in a November 2018 message, Epstein called himself Summers’s “wing man,” while he gave Summers advice on a romantic relationship.
CNN reported that in March 2019, months after allegations that Epstein abused underage girls were reported by the Miami Herald, Summers sought advice about sending a note to a woman he liked.
Epstein called a note “BAD FORM.”
“Why bad form. Supposed to be face to face?” Summers wrote back.
“you care very much for this person. You might want to demonstrate that. a note does the very opposite,” Epstein replied.
Larry Summers was 64 years old when he had this email exchange with Jeffrey Epstein. It truly goes to show that every human being, no matter their age, wealth and power, is secretly an insecure 12 years old. pic.twitter.com/F0zIAZnthQ
— ☀️ Jon Schwarz ☀️ (@schwarz) November 12, 2025
Summers, who was Clinton’s Treasury secretary and Obama’s director of the National Economic Council, should pay a higher price for his Epstein connections, according to Massachusetts Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who has battled Summers over economic policy.
“For decades, Larry Summers has demonstrated his attraction to serving the wealthy and well-connected, but his willingness to cozy up to a convicted sex offender demonstrates monumentally bad judgment,” Warren said.
“If he had so little ability to distance himself from Jeffrey Epstein even after all that was publicly known about Epstein’s sex offenses involving underage girls, then Summers cannot be trusted to advise our nation’s politicians, policymakers, and institutions — or teach a generation of students at Harvard or anywhere else.”
The Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank of which summers was a part, said it and Summers have parted ways, according to the BBC.
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