Former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers abruptly went on leave Wednesday from teaching at Harvard University, where he once served as president, a spokesman said, following last week's release of emails between him and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Summers had been retreating from his public commitments amid the fallout of the emails, but he had maintained that he would continue teaching economics classes at Harvard.
"Mr. Summers has decided it's in the best interest of the Center for him to go on leave from his role as Director as Harvard undertakes its review. His co-teachers will complete the remaining three class sessions of the courses he has been teaching with them this semester, and he is not scheduled to teach next semester," Summers spokesman Steven Goldberg said in a statement Wednesday night.
A Harvard spokesperson confirmed that "Summers had communicated his decision to the University."
Earlier Wednesday, Summers announced he was resigning from the board of OpenAI and leaving many other roles.
Harvard had said earlier Wednesday that it's "conducting a review of information concerning individuals at Harvard included in the newly released Jeffrey Epstein documents to evaluate what actions may be warranted."
The emails released by the House Oversight Committee last week showed Summers and Epstein communicated regularly during the last years of Epstein's life, even as the accused sex trafficker's public infamy and notoriety grew. Many of the messages were from the late 2010s, well after Epstein pleaded guilty to prostitution charges in Florida, but before he was charged with sex trafficking in federal court and taken into custody in July 2019.
There is no evidence of illegal conduct on the part of Summers.
On Wednesday night, President Trump said he signed a bill that requires the Justice Department to release files related to Epstein within 30 days.
