Bipartisan Backlash Against Summers Over Epstein Relationship
Prominent Harvard professor and economist Larry Summers is facing intense bipartisan pressure as lawmakers from both major political parties demand that institutions sever ties with him following the release of damaging email exchanges with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
The House oversight committee recently disclosed communications showing Epstein referring to himself as Summers' "wing man" in a November 2018 message. The emails span from 2013 to early 2019 and reveal the depth of their relationship, which continued despite Epstein's 2008 guilty plea for soliciting prostitution from a minor.
Political Figures Demand Accountability
Democratic senator Elizabeth Warren delivered particularly strong criticism, telling CNN that Summers demonstrated "monumentally bad judgment" by maintaining close contact with Epstein. "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," Warren stated.
The political pressure isn't limited to Democratic critics. A senior Trump administration official told Politico that institutions should immediately end their association with Summers. "It's shocking that Larry Summers remains a paid contributor to Bloomberg News, on the board of OpenAI and tenured at Harvard," the anonymous source commented, comparing the situation to the British government's swift dismissal of their Ambassador to the U.S. over lesser matters.
Email Revelations and Ongoing Investigation
The released correspondence shows Summers and Epstein exchanging personal views on politics and relationships. In one particularly revealing 2017 email, Summers wrote to Epstein about his views on Harvard admissions, stating: "I'm trying to figure why [the] American elite think if u murder your baby by beating and abandonment it must be irrelevant to your admission to Harvard." He added concerningly: "DO NOT REPEAT THIS INSIGHT."
Other messages demonstrate Summers seeking romantic advice from Epstein. In November 2018, Summers forwarded an email from a woman to Epstein, asking when he should respond. Epstein replied: "she's already beginning to sound needy :) nice."
Summers is now subject to a new investigation initiated by former President Donald Trump last week. Attorney General Pam Bondi has been instructed to launch an inquiry into several Democrats and institutions named in the latest document release.
The Harvard Crimson reported that professors at the university are expressing outrage over the email revelations. Statistics professor Joseph K Blitzstein told the college newspaper: "The cozy friendship between Epstein and Summers on display in the emails is disgusting and disgraceful."
Summers expressed regret to the Harvard Crimson, writing: "I have great regrets in my life. As I have said before, my association with Jeffrey Epstein was a major error of judgement." This isn't the first controversy for Summers, who lost his position as Harvard president in 2006 after making sexist comments about female academics.
The relationship between Summers and Epstein was previously reported by the Wall Street Journal in 2023, which revealed that in 2014, Summers had asked Epstein for advice on securing $1 million in funding for his wife's poetry project.
