House Lawmakers Seek Summers, Dershowitz Testimony Over Epstein Ties

WASHINGTON — Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.) called Wednesday for former Harvard President Lawrence H. Summers to testify before the House Oversight Committee about his relationship with convicted child sex offender Jeffrey E. Epstein.

Garcia, the ranking Democrat on the panel, told MSNow after a lengthy session with Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates on Wednesday that he believed Summers was “someone that needs to be in front of the Oversight Committee and that we need to hear from directly.”

Summers faced public and professional backlash after a November release of documents revealed that he maintained an intimate, longstanding relationship with Epstein. Shortly after, the Department of Justice launched an investigation into Epstein’s relationship with Summers and other high-profile figures.

His name surfaced again during Gates’ Wednesday interview. Midway through Gates’ testimony, Garcia stepped out to tell reporters that Gates had cited Summers as someone involved in meetings or other activities with Epstein.

“Mr. Summers is someone that we as a committee have not had the chance to speak with, that we would like to speak with,” Garcia said at the time. “It seems that his name continues to come up.”

Summers declined to comment, through a spokesperson, on whether he had been formally asked to testify.

Summers is not the only Harvard affiliate likely to be drawn into the House’s expanding investigation into Epstein, lawmakers indicated this week.

Rep. James R. Comer (R-Ky.), who chairs the Oversight Committee, said Wednesday that he planned to bring in Harvard Law School professor emeritus Alan M. Dershowitz for an interview.

Dershowitz, a high-profile defense lawyer who who helped negotiate Epstein’s controversial 2008 plea deal, said in a Thursday interview with The Crimson that he was eager to testify before the committee but had not yet heard from Comer.

“He still hasn’t called me. I left a message saying ‘I’m anxious to testify, please get in touch with me.’” Dershowitz said. “And I haven’t heard.”

Dershowitz has publicly offered to testify since February. Comer attributed his renewed interest in interviewing Dershowitz to the recent testimony of Epstein’s former assistant Lesley Groff and a meeting with several victims of Epstein.

Dershowitz said he would provide documentation that, in his view, shows people connected to Epstein should be evaluated “case by case,” saying the full story was “more nuanced and complex than it’s been presented.”

Members of the Oversight Committee have called in more than a dozen individuals to give testimony on Epstein’s criminal actions since last summer and have announced plans to speak with several more in the coming months.

Summers’ name came up in March testimony from former President Bill Clinton, who told the Oversight Committee that Summers introduced him to Epstein in the early 2000s. Clinton said Summers described Epstein as an “information hungry person” interested in economics and politics in a 2001 or 2002 phone call.

Summers’ ties to Epstein have been subject to scrutiny since the committee released a tranche of emails and files tied to the late child sex predator in November. Those records documented unusually intimate correspondence between Summers and Epstein about politics, economics, and romantic travails, dating from the early 2000s until the days before Epstein’s 2019 arrest.

The fallout was swift. In the days after the initial release, Summers stepped back from his teaching commitments, resigned or was removed from several nonprofit boards, and retreated from public life. In February, he announced he would resign from his academic and faculty appointments at the end of the academic year and relinquished his University professorship.

Harvard announced a review in November revisiting its affiliates’ ties to Epstein in light of the newly released files. It later expanded its inquiry to include the millions of pages made public by the Department of Justice in January. The probe is ongoing.

—Staff writer Hugo C. Chiasson reported from Los Angeles. He can be reached at [email protected] or on Signal at hcc.35. Follow him on X @HugoChiassonn.

—Staff writer Elise A. Spenner reported from Washington. She can be reached at [email protected] or on Signal at elisespenner.82. Follow her on X @EliseSpenner.