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Larry Summers, the former president of Harvard University, has announced that he will step back from public commitments, according to the Ivy League college’s student newspaper.
In a statement released Monday to The Harvard Crimson, Summers said it was part of an effort “to rebuild trust and repair relationships with the people closest to me.”
The announcement follows the release of seven years’ worth of correspondence between Summers and the disgraced financier Jeffrey E. Epstein by the United States House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.
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Harvard’s former president, Larry Summers withdrawing from public commitments amid revelations of continued communication with disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein. (Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
The documents showed the two men continued to exchange messages as late as July 5, 2019, which was just one day before Epstein’s arrest on new sex-trafficking charges.
In the hundreds of messages released, Summers also appeared to place trust in Epstein and confided to him about his pursuit of a romantic relationship with a woman he described as a mentee.
Among the released messages was one from November 2018 in which Epstein describes himself as Summers’ “wing man,” as he continued advising Summers on the relationship for months.
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Billionaire Jeffrey Epstein in Cambridge, MA on 9/8/04. Epstein is connected with several prominent people, including politicians, actors and academics. Epstein was convicted of having sex with an underaged woman. (Photo by Rick Friedman/Rick Friedman Photography/Corbis via Getty Images)
“I am deeply ashamed of my actions and recognize the pain they have caused,” Summers wrote in his statement to the Crimson.
“I take full responsibility for my misguided decision to continue communicating with Mr. Epstein,” he added.
Summers holds several roles in his professional life. He is a senior fellow at the think tank Center for American Progress, a paid columnist with Bloomberg News, and a board member at OpenAI.
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Larry Summers, president emeritus and professor at Harvard University, at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, on Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025. (Stefan Wermuth/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
He also remains a University Professor at Harvard and serves as director of the Mossavar‑Rahmani Center for Business and Government at the Harvard Kennedy School, which he will continue to oversee, his spokesman said, according to the outlet.
In Monday’s statement, the former Harvard president added: “While continuing to fulfill my teaching obligations, I will be stepping back from public commitments as one part of my broader effort.”
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Fox News Digital has reached out to Harvard University for comment.