Larry Summers, the former U.S. Treasury Secretary who also once served as the president of Harvard University, is stepping back from public life amid the fallout over his relationship with the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein .

In a statement shared with The Harvard Crimson and other outlets on Monday night, Summers said he is retreating in order to “rebuild trust and repair relationships with the people closest” to him.

Last week, the House Oversight Committee released 20,000 documents related to the estate of Epstein which featured records of emails shared between Summers and the disgraced financier. Most damning of all was the timeline, which showed Summers maintained the friendship long after Epstein was first convicted of sex crimes in 2008.

“I am deeply ashamed of m

See Full Page