Former US treasury secretary Larry Summers has said he is stepping back from public life as emails showed he continued to communicate with Jeffrey Epstein after the paedophile financier pleaded guilty to soliciting prostitution from an underage girl.
Mr Summers, a former president of Harvard University, kept in touch with Epstein after the billionaire financier pleaded guilty in 2008, emails released last week showed.
The Harvard professor said in a statement sent to the university’s student newspaper, The Harvard Crimson, and other media outlets on Monday that he wanted to “rebuild trust and repair relationships with the people closest to me”.
“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,” he said.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Epstein took his own life in a Manhattan jail in 2019 while awaiting trial on charges he sexually abused and trafficked underage girls.
In an email that year, Mr Summers asked Epstein for guidance in relation to a woman with whom he was trying to start a relationship.
In the message, Mr Summers wrote: “I said what are you up to. She said ‘I’m busy’. I said awfully coy u are.”
Epstein, who often wrote with spelling and grammatical errors, replied: “You reacted well.. annoyed shows caring. , no whining showed strentgh.”
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Their correspondence was among thousands of Epstein emails published by the US House of Representatives.
When asked about the emails last week, Mr Summers said in a statement that he has “great regrets in my life” and that his association with Epstein was a “major error in judgement”.
The emails showed many in Epstein’s vast network of wealthy and influential friends continued to stay in touch long after his 2008 guilty plea.
Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News
Mr Summers, a Democrat who served as treasury secretary from 1999 to 2001 under former US president Bill Clinton and National Economic Council director under former US president Barack Obama, would continue to teach, he said.
According to his website, he teaches several economics courses at the prestigious US university, where he was president for five years from 2001.
👉 Follow Trump100 on your podcast app 👈
He is also a director of the school’s Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government and serves on the board of OpenAI.
Sky News has contacted Harvard University for comment.
Be the first to get Breaking News
Install the Sky News app for free
Read more on Sky News:
‘Vote to release files’ – Trump
Trump’s ex-ally seeks peace
Investigate Epstein ties with Clinton, Trump says
Current US President Donald Trump called on Sunday for all the files to be released, a change of tack after he earlier dismissed the matter as a “hoax” perpetrated by the Democrats.
Mr Trump is one of a number of high-profile figures, who have been referenced in some of the documents.
The president has consistently denied any involvement or knowledge about Epstein’s sex trafficking operation.
The White House has said the “selectively leaked emails” are an attempt to “create a fake narrative” to smear Mr Trump.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
The House of Representatives will vote on Tuesday on forcing the release of the documents.
On Monday, US attorney general Pam Bondi said she ordered a top federal prosecutor to investigate Epstein’s ties to Mr Trump’s political enemies, including Mr Clinton.
