Harvard is launching an investigation into its former president, Lawrence Summers, after documents revealed writing between him and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
The university said the probe is looking at Mr. Summers’ email conversations with Epstein, which surfaced among the tens of thousands of pages of Epstein materials released by the House Oversight Committee, The Harvard Crimson reported.
“The University is conducting a review of information concerning individuals at Harvard included in the newly released Jeffrey Epstein documents to evaluate what actions may be warranted,” Harvard spokesperson Jonathan Swain told the student newspaper.
The investigation will cover any information revealed in the files, which include hundreds of messages between Mr. Summers and Epstein.
The probe will also target other people associated with the university, including Mr. Summers’ wife, Alisa New, who is a former Harvard professor, and nearly a dozen current and former Harvard affiliates, the paper said.
Mr. Summers briefly addressed the messages to his university class, expressing his shame and regret, The Crimson reported.
“I think it’s very important to fulfill my teaching obligations. And so, with your permission, we’re going to go forward and talk about the material in the class,” Mr. Summers said in a video posted by students to social media.
Harvard’s new probe comes after it released a report in 2020 about Epstein’s ties to the university, in which it was revealed that he donated about $9 million to the school between 1998 and 2008. In response, Harvard agreed to implement new guidelines on accepting potentially contentious gifts.
Mr. Summers announced Monday he would step away from public commitments but continue his role at the university, where he is director of the Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government.
He then ended his positions with the Center for American Progress, Yale’s Budget Lab advisory group, Bloomberg News, The New York Times, the Brookings Institution’s Hamilton Project, the Peterson Institute for International Economics and the Center for Global Development.
This week, President Trump requested that the Justice Department and the FBI investigate Democrats’ relationship with Epstein, which included Mr. Summers, former President Bill Clinton and LinkedIn founder and Democratic donor Reid Hoffman.
Congress passed a bipartisan bill to order the Justice Department to release all of the Epstein files, which will be sent to Mr. Trump, who said he would sign it.
