Harvard University professor and former presidential advisor Larry Summers has announced plans to “step back” from public life following revelations that he sought romantic advice from Jeffrey Epstein. Despite these disclosures, Summers will continue his role as an economics professor at Harvard. In a statement, he expressed remorse, stating, “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. While continuing to fulfill my teaching obligations, I will be stepping back from public commitments as part of my broader effort to rebuild trust and repair relationships with the people closest to me.”

Summers, who has also served as the president of Harvard, was found to have exchanged emails with Epstein between 2013 and 2019, according to documents released by the House Oversight Committee. These emails included discussions on current events and politics, as well as personal matters regarding Summers’ romantic life. In one exchange, Summers, 70, sought advice from Epstein on how to respond to a woman who had rejected him. This correspondence occurred long after Epstein’s 2008 guilty plea for sexual crimes against minors, a scandal that led Harvard to stop accepting donations from him in 2007.

The release of these emails has led Senator Elizabeth Warren to call on Harvard to sever ties with Summers, who previously held positions as President Bill Clinton’s Treasury Secretary and as Director of the National Economic Council under President Barack Obama. Warren told CNN she believes Summers “cannot be trusted” with young college students, given his prolonged association with Epstein. Summers, who has been married to Elisa New, a professor emerita of American Literature at Harvard, for 20 years, has not publicly commented on the nature of his relationship with Epstein or whether his marriage is open. One 2019 email revealed Summers’ frustration about a relationship, where he lamented being “the friend without benefits” amidst concerns of not receiving a “sexual reward.”

Summers analyzed his exchange with the woman in classic economic terms, by weighing up how he could maximize profit from what he gave. Epstein praised the hopeless professor for his efforts, writing that his lack of ‘whining’ to the woman ‘showed strength’. The economics professor then whined that the woman had abandoned plans with him for another man she was ‘really attracted’ to but was ‘unsuitable as a partner’. He told Epstein he could not criticize her for this due to their power dynamic, and because he had canceled on her thanks to ‘family and work constraints’ in the past. ‘Should I just wait for her to call?’ he asked the sexual offender, while suggesting that he could alternatively tell the woman she had ‘used up 80 percent of what she was owed’ by making him change his plans.

Epstein also referred to himself in some emails as Summers’ ‘wingman’, according to the Harvard Crimson. In November 2018, Summers also forwarded an email from a woman to Epstein in order to ask his advice on what he should write back. ‘Think no response for a while probably appropriate,’ Summers wrote, according to CNN. ‘she’s already beginning to sound needy 🙂 nice,’ Epstein replied in part. The previous year, in October 2017, Summers raged to Epstein that men could be banned from a social media site or a think tank because ‘they hit on a few women 10 years ago’. Summers told The Harvard Crimson on Wednesday that he regretted his friendship with Epstein. ‘I have great regrets in my life. As I have said before, my association with Jeffrey Epstein was a major error of judgment,’ he said. Summers’s announcement that he is now receding from public life comes just one day before the House of Representatives is set to vote on whether to release all of the documents related to Epstein’s crimes.

The bill would require the Justice Department to release all files and communications tied to Epstein, including materials related to the investigation into his death in federal custody. It has gained enough support from both Republican and Democratic lawmakers, the sponsors of the bill have said, and is now expected to pass despite President Donald Trump’s apparent efforts to squash the bill. He waged war against the Republican defectors who were supporting the measure, including Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Thomas Massie. But on Sunday, Trump made a stunning reversal – saying the documents should be released. The president claimed in a Truth Social post he had ‘nothing to hide’ while insisting the entire saga was a ‘hoax.’ ‘House Republicans should vote to release the Epstein files,’ he wrote. ‘We have nothing to hide, and it´s time to move on from this Democrat Hoax perpetrated by Radical Left Lunatics in order to deflect from the Great Success of the Republican Party.’

The president went on to note that his Department of Justice has already turned over tens of thousands of pages on Epstein – and hinted that the files could potentially damage Democrat enemies like Summers, Bill Clinton and Reid Hoffman. He wrote: ‘The House Oversight Committee can have whatever they are legally entitled to, I DON’T CARE!’ Trump then listed his signature issues on the economy, immigration, foreign policy and culture war issues instead of discussing Epstein. ‘Nobody cared about Jeffrey Epstein when he was alive and, if the Democrats had anything, they would have released it before our Landslide Election Victory,’ he said. The president reiterated his message later on in the night, writing: ‘It’s a Democrat Hoax for purposes of deflection, just like the Russia, Russia, Russia Scam!!! They had the sleazy relationships with Epstein, and should be prosecuted!!!’