E-Paper
Larry Summers opens his class at Harvard admitting Epstein-email row, video surfaces; Watch
Larry Summers, embroiled in controversy over Epstein emails about pursuing a former mentee, acknowledged the scandal before a Harvard lecture.
Former Treasury Secretary and Harvard President, Larry Summers, has been in the center of a major controversy after recently released emails of Jeffrey Epstein showed that he exchanged emails with the disgraced financier till the day before his arrest in 2019.
Summers's communication with Epstein has caused a major row, as the email revealed that the two were talking about Summers's romantic pursuit of a former mentee. After the exchanges came to light, Summers, who has been married since 2005, said he's ashamed and stepping away from public life.
Now, as the Harvard professor emeritus gave a lecture at the university after the Jeffrey Epstein files row, he opened the class with the acknowledgement that he is in the Epstein files. A video of the moment was shared on social media by one of the attendees.
“Some of you will have seen my statement of regret, expressing my shame with respect to what I did in communication with Mr. Epstein, and that I've said that I'm going to step back from public activities for a time, but I think it's very important for my teaching," Summers said, with a room full of students attending.
"So, with your permission, I'll talk about the material in the class,” he added, before proceeding with the class.
Here's the video:
The emails of Jeffrey Epstein from around 2002 till the time he was arrested in 2019 were released by the Democrat-led US House Oversight Committee. Then, on Tuesday, the US House voted on the Epstein Files Transparency Act - a discharge petition that will force the Department of Justice to release the Epstein files.
The bill is currently waiting for a signature from President Trump to become a law.
Larry Summers' Email Exchanges With Epstein
Larry Summers has been identified as one of the high-profile names identified in the emails who stayed in touch with the convicted sex trafficker till the time of his arrest. While Summers stayed in touch with Epstein all along, what has particularly caused a row is a series of emails from 2018-2019, the final two years of Epstein's life.
Also read: Larry Summers family: Who is wife, Harvard professor Elisa New? All on their children
In those emails, Summers discusses his pursuit of a mentee, identified by the Harvard Crimson as a Chinese Economist and former London School of Economics professor, Keyu Jin.
After the texts surfaced, Summers issued an apology and said he is stepping away from public life. "I am deeply ashamed of my actions and recognize the pain they have caused," he said in a statement. "I take full responsibility for my misguided decision to continue communicating with Mr Epstein."
Since then, Harvard has opened an internal probe into Summers.
"The university is conducting a review of information concerning individuals at Harvard included in the newly released Jeffrey Epstein documents to evaluate what actions may be warranted," a statement from the University read.
