Month: November 2025

Larry Summers, former Treasury Secretary and ex-president of Harvard University, has stepped down from OpenAI’s board of directors – a move that follows mounting scrutiny over recently published email exchanges between him and Jeffrey Epstein.

Summers, 70, joined OpenAI’s board in late 2023. His exit marks another high-profile repercussion stemming from renewed public attention on the years of correspondence with Epstein, who died by suicide in federal custody in August 2019.

OpenAI confirmed the departure Wednesday, saying, “Larry has decided to resign from the OpenAI Board of Directors, and we respect his decision. We appreciate his many contributions and the perspective he brought to the Board.”

Summers issued his own statement, echoing his decision to scale back his public roles. “In line with my announcement to step away from my public commitments, I have also decided to resign from the board of OpenAI,” he said, adding, “I am grateful for the opportunity to have served, excited about the potential of the company, and look forward to following their progress.”

The resignation came two days after Summers publicly expressed regret for maintaining contact with Epstein, whose estate-related emails were released last week by the House Oversight Committee. The trove included thousands of communications, some indicating a long-running relationship between the two men that extended into 2019, shortly before Epstein’s arrest on federal sex trafficking charges. Summers has not been accused of any criminal wrongdoing, and no evidence has emerged linking him to Epstein’s crimes.

Summers’ relationship with Epstein has been documented for years, including multiple flights on Epstein’s aircraft and interactions during Summers’ 2001–2006 tenure as Harvard’s president, a period in which the university received multimillion-dollar gifts from Epstein—donations Harvard says were made prior to Epstein’s 2008 guilty plea in Florida.

On Monday, Summers acknowledged the fallout from the disclosures, saying, “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.” He added that he would continue teaching at Harvard while “stepping back from public commitments as one part of my broader effort to rebuild trust and repair relationships with the people closest to me.”

Harvard confirmed Wednesday it will conduct a new review of individuals at the university mentioned in the recently released Epstein records. The institution previously examined its Epstein ties in 2019. Officials declined to say whether Summers’ teaching role may be affected while the new inquiry proceeds.

The congressional push for transparency around Epstein also continued this week, as lawmakers overwhelmingly passed a bill requiring the release of additional Epstein files. It remains unclear whether President Trump will sign the legislation.

Editorial credit: Svet foto / Shutterstock.com

NYC Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani said he will keep Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch in place when he takes office in January, extending her tenure at the head of the nation’s largest police force.

During his campaign, Mamdani had pledged to retain Tisch—who was appointed by Mayor Eric Adams in late 2024—and reiterated that commitment as he formally announced the decision. The mayor-elect, who has faced scrutiny over past remarks criticizing the NYPD and supporting calls to “defund” police, framed the move as an affirmation of Tisch’s record and a message that his administration intends to prioritize safety.

Mamdani praised Tisch, 44, for “cracking down on corruption in the upper echelons of the police department, driving down crime in New York City, and standing up for New Yorkers in the face of authoritarianism.” Mamdani added that “Together, we will deliver a city where rank-and-file police officers and the communities they serve alike are safe, represented, and proud to call New York their home.”

Tisch later confirmed she had accepted the offer, saying in a statement, “I’ve spoken to Mayor-elect Mamdani several times, and I’m ready to serve with honor as his Police Commissioner.” She noted that although they differ on some issues, “we share many of the same public safety goals for New York City: lowering crime, making communities safer, rooting out corruption, and giving our officers the tools, support, and resources they need to carry out their noble work.”

In an email to NYPD personnel Wednesday, she acknowledged those differences directly: “Now, do the Mayor-elect and I agree on everything? No, we don’t.” But she emphasized broad alignment on maintaining safety and stability, writing that officers could “trust that I will be a fierce advocate for you and for this department.” Calling the role the “greatest privilege of my life,” she said she is “proud to continue doing it.”

Tisch brings nearly two decades of government experience, beginning her public service career in 2008 in the NYPD Counterterrorism Bureau. She previously served as the city’s sanitation commissioner and ran the Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications, where she oversaw significant technology modernization efforts. Her appointment as Police Commissioner in 2024 followed months of turmoil inside the NYPD, when former Commissioner Edward Caban resigned amid an FBI probe, an interim commissioner filed suit alleging the department had been run as a racketeering enterprise, and other senior public-safety advisers to Adams stepped down during federal investigations. Tisch became the second woman to lead the NYPD, following Keechant Sewell.

Adams, who opted not to seek re-election, praised the decision to keep her on, saying the move affirmed the administration’s public-safety strategy and ongoing crime reduction efforts.

Editorial credit: lev radin / Shutterstock.com