The New York Times is cutting ties with Larry Summers following the publication of a series of email exchanges the Harvard professor and economist had with Jeffrey Epstein.
The former US treasury secretary said on Monday he would step back from public commitments after House Republicans released thousands of files relating to the late paedophile who in a 2018 email described himself as Summers’ “wing man”.
The documents revealed Summers maintained a friendly relationship with Epstein long after the disgraced financier pleaded guilty to soliciting prostitution from an underage girl in 2008, and continued to correspond with him until 5 July 2019, the day before Epstein was arrested on sex-trafficking charges.
The revelations prompted lawmakers to urge companies and institutions to cut ties with Summers, who stepped down from his position as Harvard president in 2006.
On Tuesday, Charlie Stadtlander, the New York Times’ executive director for media relations and communications, said: “Lawrence Summers was a contributing writer for New York Times Opinion on a one-year contract beginning in January 2025. We do not intend to renew this contract. We thank him for his contributions.”
It is the latest fallout following last week’s release of Epstein files in which Summers asked the convicted sex offender for relationship advice and the probability of “getting horizontal” with a woman the pair referred to as “peril”.
The left-leaning thinktank Center for American Progress told the Guardian that Summers’ position as “distinguished senior fellow” had ended, while a spokesperson for the Budget Lab at Yale said Summers was no longer a member of the organisation’s advisory group.
But on Tuesday OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT, declined to say if Summers would be stepping down from its board of directors, which he joined in November 2023.
Summers said in a statement on Monday that he would continue to fulfil his teaching obligations while stepping back from public commitments to “rebuild trust and repair relationships with the people closest to me”.
“I am deeply ashamed of my actions and recognise the pain they have caused. I take full responsibility for my misguided decision to continue communicating with Mr Epstein,” he said.
The files showed that Summers maintained a years-long relationship with Epstein. In a email to Epstein on 16 March 2019, Summers discussed interactions he had with a woman, writing: “I said what are you up to. She said ‘I’m busy’. I said awfully coy u are.”
Epstein, who often wrote with spelling and grammatical errors, replied: “You reacted well.. annoyed shows caring. , no whining showed strentgh.”
In the same series of exchanges, Summers also asked for advice about when to contact the woman, to which Epstein dictated a message, saying: “Just send, happy for the time we spent together- have fun see you soon.”
Donald Trump wrote on Truth Social on Friday that he would be asking the US Department of Justice and the FBI to investigate Epstein’s “involvement and relationship” with Summers, among other prominent Democrats and business leaders – but no Republicans.
Summers served as US treasury secretary from 1999 to 2001 under Bill Clinton. He is currently a professor and is a director of Harvard’s Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government.
The Guardian has contacted Summers for comment.