After communicating with Jeffrey Epstein, former US Treasury Secretary under Bill Clinton, Larry Summers announced on Monday that he was retiring from public life. He was president of Harvard University.

Larry Summers, US Treasury Secretary under Bill Clinton who became president of Harvard University in the 2000s, announced on Monday, November 17, that he was retiring from public life after the publication of his email correspondence with sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

"I take full responsibility for my misguided decision to continue communicating with Jeffrey Epstein," he said in a statement.

"While continuing to fulfill my teaching obligations, I will withdraw from my public engagements as part of a broader effort to rebuild trust and repair relationships with my loved ones."

The case was revived again last week by the publication of emails from the New York financier, who has a particularly well-stocked address book.

Towards the publication of all documents?

The day after this announcement, on Tuesday, November 18, the US House of Representatives is scheduled to vote on a bill to force the Trump administration to be more transparent in the Epstein case. This vote is seen as a challenge to the Republican president, who exerted strong pressure to block it before ultimately having to back down.

The proposed law aims to order the Department of Justice "to release all documents and records" in its possession concerning the New York financier, who died in prison in 2019 before his trial for sexual crimes.

After waging a veritable public and behind-the-scenes campaign for weeks to thwart the holding of this vote in the House, Donald Trump reversed course on Sunday by finally giving it his support.

"We have nothing to hide," declared the president, who nevertheless railed against what he considers a "hoax" orchestrated by the opposition, asserting again on Monday that Republicans had "nothing to do with Epstein," while "the Democrats, yes, all his friends were Democrats."

His change of position came as one of the bill's authors, Republican Representative Thomas Massie, stated over the weekend that he expected "100 or more" of his majority colleagues to join him in support of the bill.