Who Is Larry Summers and Why He Just Took Leave From Harvard?

Larry Summers, one of the most influential economic policymakers of the past half-century, has stepped back from his teaching duties at Harvard University following the publication of emails showing he maintained contact with Jeffrey Epstein well after Epstein’s 2008 guilty plea.

Summers, 70, built a national profile as Treasury secretary under President Bill Clinton, after helping steer the administration through the Asian financial crisis and the deregulatory era of the late 1990s.

He was later a senior adviser to President Barack Obama during the 2008 financial crisis response and was once considered a top contender to lead the Federal Reserve.

The email revelations triggered a rapid series of exits: Summers resigned from the board of OpenAI, and several policy organizations cut ties with him. His leave from Harvard, the institution he once led as president, marks a sharp fall for a figure long seen as central to Washington’s economic establishment.

The Justice Department, at President Trump’s request, has also directed prosecutors to review Epstein-related ties of Summers and other public figures, reopening a politically sensitive issue. Summers has called his past association with Epstein a “major error in judgment” and said he regrets the relationship.