Former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers announced he is “stepping back from public commitments” after a trove of emails linking him to Jeffrey Epstein was released, and the reaction should be fierce and immediate. For too long our institutions have coddled the powerful and protected their reputations while ordinary Americans paid the price for elite misjudgment. This is about more than embarrassment — it’s about accountability for a ruling class that treats consequences as optional.
The House Oversight Committee’s document release revealed regular communications between Summers and Epstein that continued well after Epstein’s 2008 conviction, with messages stretching into the final years before Epstein’s arrest in 2019. Those documents are damning not necessarily because they prove criminal conduct by Summers, but because they expose the cozy networks that let predators run unchecked and powerful men keep company with them. Americans deserve to know who sheltered Epstein’s reputation and why the institutional firewall around him lasted so long.
Summers issued a statement saying he was “deeply ashamed” and will maintain classroom duties while stepping back from outside public roles, but officials at major organizations are already distancing themselves. This half-measure won’t satisfy a country tired of elite apologies that come after exposure instead of before reform, and Harvard, think tanks, and corporate boards must act swiftly and transparently. If you’ve been a trusted public figure, you answer questions — you don’t quietly retreat and hope the outrage passes.
President Trump moved to force a full accounting, asking the Justice Department to investigate ties between Epstein and prominent Democrats, and Attorney General Pam Bondi reportedly tapped a senior prosecutor to take a closer look. Conservatives should welcome any genuine probe that applies the law evenly and unflinchingly, because true accountability is blind to party. Let the investigations run their course, but let there be no mistaking: this is a moment to drain the swamp, not weaponize it for partisan score-settling.
Already, some institutions are re-evaluating their relationships with Summers and other figures named in the files, and politicians on both sides are calling for answers. Good — hypocrisy from the coastal elites and the academic oligarchy has been tolerated far too long, and voters are rightly disgusted when those who preach virtue fail to live it. The next steps must include full disclosure of relevant records, prompt institutional reviews, and clear consequences where judgment or worse was compromised.
Americans of every political stripe should demand fairness: due process for the accused, but no more backroom protection for the well-connected. Our republic depends on equal justice and public integrity, not on a two-tiered system where the powerful get private apologies while the rest of us get indignation and silence. If Washington won’t clean house, the voters will — and they should.
