Powerful Democrat Steps Down Over Epstein Island Bombshell

Larry Summers is leaving Harvard as questions swirl over his past ties to Jeffrey Epstein — and fresh attention falls on his long-standing role in Democratic politics.

The former Treasury secretary will resign from his teaching posts at Harvard University at the end of the academic year, the school announced Wednesday. Summers will also relinquish his University Professorship, Harvard’s highest faculty distinction.

Summers, who served as Treasury secretary under President Bill Clinton and is known as a major Democratic donor, called the decision “difficult,” according to the Harvard Crimson. He did not cite a specific reason for stepping down.

His exit comes amid renewed scrutiny tied to Justice Department files released by House lawmakers. The documents included emails indicating Summers remained in contact with Epstein up to Epstein’s 2019 arrest, years after Epstein’s conviction for soliciting minors. The exchanges referenced politics and women.

Previously disclosed flight logs show Summers and his wife, Lisa New, visited Epstein’s Little Saint James island in December 2005, shortly after their wedding. Summers was Harvard president at the time.

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Palm Beach police had begun investigating Epstein months earlier.

A spokesperson for Summers previously said: “Mr. Summers and Ms. New spent their honeymoon in St. John and Jamaica in December 2005, which was long before Mr. Epstein was arrested for the first time.”

“As part of that trip, they made a brief visit of less than a day to Mr. Epstein’s island.”

Then-Secretary Summers with former President Clinton

Harvard said Summers’ resignation was “in connection with the ongoing review by the University of documents related to Jeffrey Epstein that were recently released by the government,” spokesman Jason Newton told The New York Times.

Summers has been on leave since November and will remain so until his resignation takes effect. During that period, he will not teach classes or accept new advisees.

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Among the emails highlighted by lawmakers was one in which Summers asked Epstein for advice on “getting horizontal” with a woman Summers had described elsewhere as a mentee.

“I dint [sic] want to be in a gift giving competition while being the friend without benefits,” he wrote.

In another exchange, Epstein quipped that he was a “pretty good wing man.”

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