Harvard's ex-president steps back in disgrace after Epstein emails

Harvard University professor and former presidential advisor Larry Summers said he will be 'stepping back' from public life after he was exposed for sending emails seeking romantic advice from Jeffrey Epstein.  

But Summers - who described the billionaire pedophile as his 'wingman' in emails released by the House Oversight Committee - will continue to teach economics at the Ivy League institution. 

'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,' Summers said in a statement.

'While continuing to fulfill my teaching obligations, I will be stepping back from public commitments as one part of my broader effort to rebuild trust and repair relationships with the people closest to me.' 

Summers also previously served as president of the university. The Daily Mail has reached out to Harvard for comment. 

In email exchanges dated between 2013 and 2019, Summers and Epstein frequently shared their thoughts about current events and politics - while also delving into the married economics professor's love life. 

Veteran economist Summers, 70, complained to the now-disgraced financier about feeling like 'the friend without benefits' in his relationship with one woman who jilted him in 2019, and asked him for tips on how to reply to her texts. 

This was long after Epstein's guilty plea to sex crimes against children in 2008 - and Harvard had already stopped accepting donations from him the previous year in light of the allegations.   

The emails have prompted Senator Elizabeth Warren to urge Harvard to cut ties with Summers, who is the Ivy League schools' former president, and who also served as Bill Clinton's Treasury Secretary and Barack Obama's Director of the NEC.  

Warren told CNN she believes Summers 'cannot be trusted' with young college students given his lengthy friendship with Epstein. 

Summers is married to Elisa New, who is a professor emerita of American Literature at Harvard. It's unclear whether they have an open relationship or if he was cheating on his partner of now-20 years. 

In one March 2019 email, Summers complained to Epstein that he was concerned that the attention he was giving one woman may not pay off in the form of sexual reward. 

'I dint (sic) want to be in a gift giving competition while being the friend without benefits,' he wrote. 

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 sex 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!!!'