Bipartisan Backlash Against Larry Summers
Prominent Harvard economist Larry Summers is facing intense bipartisan scrutiny following the release of email correspondence revealing his years-long relationship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Lawmakers from both Democratic and Republican parties are urging major institutions to sever their connections with the former US Treasury Secretary.
Damning Email Evidence Emerges
The House oversight committee documents, released last week, contain email exchanges between Summers and Epstein spanning from 2013 to early 2019. In one particularly revealing November 2018 message, Epstein referred to himself as Summers' 'wing man', raising serious questions about the nature of their relationship.
Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren delivered a strong condemnation to CNN, stating: '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.' She emphasised that Summers cannot be trusted to advise nation's politicians or teach students given his failure to distance himself from Epstein.
Institutional Pressure Mounts
A senior Trump administration official told Politico that Summers' current positions at Bloomberg News, OpenAI and Harvard University should be reconsidered in light of the revelations. The anonymous source questioned why British authorities had acted more decisively in similar circumstances, referring to the swift dismissal of the UK's Ambassador to the US over lesser matters.
The emails reveal disturbing content, including a 2017 message where Summers wrote to Epstein about Harvard admissions criteria, specifically mentioning: '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 explicitly instructed Epstein: 'DO NOT REPEAT THIS INSIGHT.'
Further correspondence shows Summers seeking romantic advice from Epstein, including forwarding a woman's email in November 2018 and asking when to respond. Epstein replied with the comment: 'she's already beginning to sound needy :) nice.'
Consequences and Investigations
Summers is now subject to a new investigation initiated by former President Donald Trump last week. Attorney General Pam Bondi has been instructed to examine several Democrats and institutions named in the latest document release.
Harvard professors have expressed outrage at the revelations. Statistics professor Joseph K Blitzstein told the Harvard Crimson: 'The cozy friendship between Epstein and Summers on display in the emails is disgusting and disgraceful.'
Summers acknowledged his error in a statement to the Harvard Crimson last week, 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.
