DonGlock26
Diamond Member
- Sep 15, 2024
- 16,503
- 24,245
- 2,288
"How Larry Summers’s Power Delayed the Reckoning Over His Epstein Ties
The former Treasury secretary and Harvard president’s enormous network and clout kept him immune from past Jeffrey Epstein revelations. But this time was just too much.
By
Joshua Chaffin,
Melissa Korn
and
Justin Lahart
Nov. 20, 2025 9:00 pm ET
Last November, a collection of business, academic and political luminaries made a pilgrimage to a wood-paneled conference room at Harvard University. They were there to pay tribute to Lawrence Summers, the former Treasury Secretary and university president, and one of the foremost economists of his era.
During a day-long event to mark his 70th birthday, Summers basked in praise from guests including former Meta chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg and Gene Sperling, who directed the National Economic Council for Presidents Clinton and Obama.
This week, a chastened Summers found himself in different circumstances: standing in the well of a Harvard lecture hall, asking his students’ forgiveness as his professional life was unraveling.
“Some of you will have seen my statement of regret, expressing my shame with respect to what I did in communication with Mr. Epstein,” Summers said, according to a video taken by an attendee and posted to social media. “But I think it’s very important that I fulfill my teaching obligations.”
The question now is: Why did it take so long for Summers’s ties to Epstein to wound his highflying career?"
It's totally crazy. How could he get away with it for so long?
The former Treasury secretary and Harvard president’s enormous network and clout kept him immune from past Jeffrey Epstein revelations. But this time was just too much.
By
Joshua Chaffin,
Melissa Korn
and
Justin Lahart
Nov. 20, 2025 9:00 pm ET
Last November, a collection of business, academic and political luminaries made a pilgrimage to a wood-paneled conference room at Harvard University. They were there to pay tribute to Lawrence Summers, the former Treasury Secretary and university president, and one of the foremost economists of his era.
During a day-long event to mark his 70th birthday, Summers basked in praise from guests including former Meta chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg and Gene Sperling, who directed the National Economic Council for Presidents Clinton and Obama.
This week, a chastened Summers found himself in different circumstances: standing in the well of a Harvard lecture hall, asking his students’ forgiveness as his professional life was unraveling.
“Some of you will have seen my statement of regret, expressing my shame with respect to what I did in communication with Mr. Epstein,” Summers said, according to a video taken by an attendee and posted to social media. “But I think it’s very important that I fulfill my teaching obligations.”
The question now is: Why did it take so long for Summers’s ties to Epstein to wound his highflying career?"
It's totally crazy. How could he get away with it for so long?
