Last week's Democratic attempt to weaponize Jeffrey Epstein's emails against Trump backfired spectacularly. The supposedly damning evidence against Trump turned out to be a nothingburger, and the GOP's subsequent release of 23,000 emails has already claimed its first casualty — though not the target Democrats had hoped for.
Larry Summers, the former Harvard president who also served as Bill Clinton’s treasury secretary and director of Obama's National Economic Council, announced Monday that he's “stepping back from public commitments.”
According to a statement he gave to The Harvard Crimson, Summers's retreat is part of an effort "to rebuild trust and repair relationships with the people closest to me."
“I am deeply ashamed of my actions and recognize the pain they have caused. I take full responsibility for my misguided decision to continue communicating with Mr. Epstein,” Summers told The Crimson. “While continuing to fulfill my teaching obligations, I will be stepping back from public commitments as one part of my broader effort.”
Translation: He got caught, and the fallout is too toxic to ignore.
Summers stepped down from his position as an advisor to the Yale Budget Lab — a Yale University-based policy shop that offers financial modeling for policymakers and journalists — on Monday, according to a spokesperson for the group. His profile was removed from the lab’s website by Monday evening.
Summers also resigned from his fellowship at the Center for American Progress, a progressive think tank. He had served as a senior fellow at the organization since 2012.
“Larry Summers has announced that he is stepping away from public comments immediately, and this includes ending his fellowship at CAP,” a spokesperson for the group wrote in a statement.
In the huge tranche of emails the Republicans on the House Oversight Committee released last week, there were seven years of correspondence between Summers and the late financier. These exchanges, spanning at least 2013 to 2019, painted a disturbing picture of Summers’ judgment — or, more accurately, the complete lack thereof — since Epstein had pleaded guilty in 2008 to solicitation of prostitution and solicitation of prostitution with a minor. That means that by the time Summers was chatting with him, Epstein was already a convicted sex offender and known predator. Yet Summers kept the friendship going for years.
ICYMI: Schumer Accidentally Exposed the Case Against Democrats on Epstein
The released documents revealed something even more cringeworthy. Summers asked Epstein for romantic advice about pursuing an affair with a female mentee. The two bantered back and forth, with Summers apparently seeking Epstein's counsel on whether he should send a note to a woman who had caught his interest. That's right: A former Harvard president and senior economic advisor to two Democratic presidents thought a convicted sex offender was the right person to consult about pursuing a relationship with a younger woman he was supposed to be mentoring.
But Summers isn't the only Democrat caught in the Epstein email dragnet. Newly released documents showed House Del. Stacey Plaskett (D-Virgin Islands) strategized with Epstein over text messages during a 2019 Congressional hearing — well after everyone knew what he was. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries now face uncomfortable questions about Plaskett's communications. On top of that, Barack Obama’s White House counsel, Kathryn Ruemmler, sought Epstein’s guidance on how to get Obama to nominate her for U.S. attorney general — again, after we all knew who Epstein really was.
It's starting to look like the only person who did the right thing and disassociated himself from Epstein was Donald Trump.
Democrats gambled that selectively releasing Epstein emails would damage Trump. Instead, they've opened Pandora's box, and their own party members are the ones getting buried by the contents. Who will be the next Democrat to fall to the emails? And, perhaps more importantly, what does this mean for the vote on the release of the Epstein emails on Tuesday afternoon?
Democrats thought they could weaponize Epstein’s emails against Trump. Instead, their own party is imploding. How many more Democrats will be exposed? The mainstream media won’t ask that question, but PJ Media will. We’re the voice conservatives trust to expose the Left’s hypocrisy.
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