Larry Summers Is in the Epstein Files Which Means We Have to Take a Look at His Politics
Larry Summer has been described as brilliant and arrogant.
Published Nov. 18 2025, 12:29 p.m. ET
It is a truth universally known that any person mentioned in the so-called Epstein files must be raked across the political coals. In November 2025, Democratic members of the House Oversight Committee released three emails from the files. They had been subpoenaed from the convicted sex offender's estate. Each mentioned President Donald Trump.
In response to that, Republican members of the Oversight Committee dropped more than 20,000 emails. Suddenly all kinds of names were popping up like Trump's former advisor Steve Bannon, Kathryn Ruemmler, a lawyer who served as White House counsel during the presidency of Barack Obama, and former U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Larry Summers. Let's take a look at the political party Summers is affiliated with.
Larry Summers has always been a member of the Democratic political party.
Summers started his career as an economist but in 1993, he entered the world of politics when former president Bill Clinton appointed him Under Secretary for International Affairs of the United States Department of the Treasury. This began a long relationship Summers has had with prominent members of the Democratic Party.
From 1999-01, Summers served as United States Secretary of the Treasury. He also served as the Director of the White House United States National Economic Council for President Obama from January 2009 until November 2010. Despite his "connections to corporate America and Wall Street, his moderate views, and controversial remarks he made about women’s aptitude for science," per Politico, Democrats often turn to Summers during times of economic strife.
People on the right and left sides of the aisle have criticized Summers. Democrats can't stand his "corporate-friendly leanings" and stance that higher interest rates can curb inflation. Republicans have taken issue with Summers's opposition to some big spending plans. By all accounts, Summer is a moderate Democrat with valuable insights into the economy.
Here's what we know about Summers's religion.
Summers was Harvard's first Jewish president. In 2006, he resigned following a series of controversies. According to The New York Times, Summers planned on changing the culture of Harvard but only managed to alienate professors with a "personal style that many saw as bullying and arrogant." His statement about women lacking an "intrinsic aptitude for math and science" certainly didn't help.
In March 2006, The Harvard Crimson referenced a piece in the Boston Globe where columnist Alex Beam quoted professor Ruth R. Wisse as asking, "Was anti-Semitism the driving engine of this coup?" Summers's religion played a part during this time after he said a petition urging the university to divest from Israel was "anti-Semitic in their effect if not their intent." Wisse told The Crimson that anti-Semitism helped turn some professors against Summers.
Summers told the outlet he had not experienced "personal anti-Semitism" during his time at Harvard. Alan Dershowitz said he didn't believe anti-Semitism was at play but believed there was "some interplay between anti-Zionism and Summers’s ouster."