Larry Summers quits OpenAI board, exits multiple high-profile positions over Epstein emails
WASHINGTON, DC: Former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers announced on Wednesday, November 19, that he was resigning from the OpenAI board and stepping away from a wide range of other public roles after last week’s disclosure of emails revealing his long-running communication with Jeffrey Epstein.
“In line with my announcement to step away from my public commitments, I have also decided to resign from the board of OpenAI,” Summers said in a statement.
"I am grateful for the opportunity to have served, excited about the potential of the company and look forward to following their progress," he added.
His other departures include roles at Bloomberg News, The New York Times, the Brookings Institution’s Hamilton Project, the Center for American Progress, the Peterson Institute for International Economics and the Yale Budget Lab.
Elizabeth Warren blasts Larry Summers’ Epstein communications
The emails showed that Summers and Epstein communicated regularly during the last years of Epstein’s life.
Before he issued the statement, Sen Elizabeth Warren, long a critic of Larry Summers, had accused the former Harvard leader of lacking the judgment necessary to teach or advise government officials, accusing him of displaying “monumentally bad judgment” through his continued correspondence with Epstein.
“If he had so little ability to distance himself from Jeffrey Epstein even after all that was publicly known about Epstein’s offenses ... then Summers cannot be trusted to advise our nation’s politicians, policymakers, and institutions, or teach a generation of students at Harvard or anywhere else,” Warren said, in remarks first reported by CNN.
Larry Summers claims that he is 'deeply ashamed'
Summers, who served as treasury secretary in the Clinton administration and was later a key economic adviser to former President Barack Obama, said that his decision to withdraw from public roles was part of a broader effort to mend personal relationships.
“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,” he said.
On Tuesday, he added, “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.”
Both the House and Senate voted overwhelmingly on Tuesday to require the Justice Department to release its files related to Epstein, sending the legislation to President Donald Trump’s desk.
Trump last week urged the Justice Department to investigate Epstein’s relationships with Summers, former President Bill Clinton and other high-profile Democrats.
The House voted 427–1 on Tuesday to compel the Justice Department to release Epstein-related records, ending months of delay amid fierce political battles over transparency and accountability.
Only Rep Clay Higgins voted against the measure. President Donald Trump dropped his opposition to the bill as Republican support swelled, clearing political space for more members of his party to back the bill.
