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.

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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.

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Roblox is rolling out stricter age-verification requirements and new age-segmented chat systems as it faces mounting legal and regulatory pressure over child safety on the platform. The company confirmed Tuesday that users who want to access private or expanded communication features will soon need to complete an AI-driven age check, with additional limits designed to prevent adults and minors from interacting unless they already know each other offline.

The platform will use facial age-estimation technology provided by Persona, requiring users who opt in to record a brief video selfie. Roblox says the footage is deleted once the age check is completed. Players who decline the scan can still use the platform but will not be able to message others freely. The company notes that children under 13 are already barred from chatting outside of in-game channels without verified parental permission, and private chats remain unencrypted so moderation teams can review communications for safety concerns.

Matt Kaufman, Roblox’s chief safety officer, said the age-estimation tool is generally accurate within one to two years for users between roughly five and 25. He added that those who feel their estimated age is incorrect may verify with a government ID or rely on parental consent. “But of course, there’s always people who may be well outside of a traditional bell curve. And in those cases, if you disagree with the estimate that comes back, then you can provide an ID or use parental consent in order to correct that,” he said.

Once verified, players will be sorted into six age brackets—under 9; 9–12; 13–15; 16–17; 18–20; and 21+—and allowed to chat only with their own or nearby age groups, depending on the feature being used. Roblox plans to begin enforcing these requirements in Australia, New Zealand and the Netherlands in early December, with a global rollout scheduled for January. The company is also launching a new online safety center to guide families through parental controls and upcoming policy changes.

These moves come as Roblox confronts a surge of legal challenges. Dozens of families, along with attorneys general in Kentucky and Louisiana, are suing the company—alongside platforms like Discord—accusing them of failing to prevent predators from contacting children. Florida’s attorney general is conducting a separate investigation into Roblox’s safety practices.

Tech companies across the industry have been accelerating age-verification efforts to comply with new laws and respond to criticism. Google is testing AI-based age checks for YouTube, while Instagram is experimenting with tools to identify users misrepresenting their age.

Roblox previously outlined its intention to broaden age checks for all users seeking access to communication tools, and the new measures represent the most significant expansion of those plans to date.

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The Senate unanimously agreed to send the House-backed Epstein bill to President Trump’s desk on Tuesday, which came shortly after the House overwhelmingly voted to pass legislation to compel the Justice Department to release all its records related to the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

The chamber passed the bipartisan bill – known as the Epstein Files Transparency Act – in a vote of 427-1, with only Rep. Clay Higgins (R-La.) voting in opposition. The measure secured enough bipartisan support to head straight to the House floor last week, and was boosted over the weekend after President Donald Trump reversed his position and urged Republicans to support it.

The bill will force the DOJ to publicly release files related to Epstein and his co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell within 30 days of it being signed into law, with some exceptions for survivors’ personal information and other sensitive material.

The unanimous action by the Senate means there will be no amendments or changes to the bill, despite House Speaker Mike Johnson and other members of his Republican leadership team urging. Johnson – who originally opposed the effort but ultimately supported final passage — had said he expected the Senate to fix what he called “serious deficiencies” in the bill. While Johnson voted for the measure, he had argued that the bill doesn’t adequately protect victims of Epstein: “I talked to John Thune over the weekend. I just texted him. We’re going to get together and we’ll talk about this. There’s an easy way to amend the legislation to make sure we don’t do permanent damage to the justice system and I’m going to insist upon that.”

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David Richardson, the acting head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), resigned on Monday. (via The Washington Post).

Richardson submitted a resignation letter on Monday to the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees FEMA. However multiple sources told CNN that plans were already in the works at the agency to oust Richardson from the role.

Richardson, a former Marine Corps officer, is the latest acting leader to resign from the role during President Donald Trump’s second term. Richardson served as FEMA’s “Senior Official Performing the Duties” of administrator since May 8, 2025, when Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem abruptly removed his predecessor, Cameron Hamilton. Before leading FEMA, Richardson was Assistant Secretary for the Department of Homeland Security’s Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction Office.

Richardson stepped down as pressure intensified over FEMA’s handling of the catastrophic July floods in central Texas, which left more than 130 people dead, including 27 campers and staff at Camp Mystic along the Guadalupe River. He faced fierce backlash — even from members of Congress — for being largely out of reach during the emergency. FEMA officials stated that they were unable to contact the acting administrator for several hours, delaying coordination of critical search-and-rescue operations.

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President Donald Trump abruptly reversed course and is urging House Republicans to support legislation that would force the public release of all government-held records tied to Jeffrey Epstein and the investigations surrounding him. The turnaround comes as GOP leaders prepare for a floor vote Tuesday on the Epstein Files Transparency Act.

In a Truth Social post, Trump declared, “House Republicans should vote to release the Epstein files, because we have nothing to hide, and it’s time to move on from this Democrat Hoax perpetrated by Radical Left Lunatics in order to deflect from the Great Success of the Republican Party, including our recent Victory on the Democrat ‘Shutdown.’” He echoed similar remarks made earlier in the weekend, insisting that “The Department of Justice has already turned over tens of thousands of pages to the Public on ‘Epstein,’ are looking at various Democrat operatives (Bill Clinton, Reid Hoffman, Larry Summers, etc.) and their relationship to Epstein, and the House Oversight Committee can have whatever they are legally entitled to, I DON’T CARE!”

Trump had spent the past week opposing the push for transparency, at one point calling the effort a “hoax” and suggesting Democrats were seizing on the documents to divert attention from the shutdown dispute. His shift followed mounting pressure from within his own party, as as many as 100 Republicans signaled they were prepared to join a discharge petition led by Reps. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., and Ro Khanna, D-Calif., that forced the matter onto the floor despite GOP leadership’s resistance.

Trump later told reporters on Monday that he would sign a bill to compel the Justice Department to release files related to Epstein if it passes in Congress. “We have nothing to do with Epstein. The Democrats do — all of his friends were Democrats,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. As previously noted, the measure is expected to go to the House floor on Tuesday.

Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., who also previously opposed advancing the bill, has acknowledged “lots of votes” exist for the measure and confirmed the House will vote this week. “There’s nothing to hide,” he said.

The bill, first introduced in July by Khanna and Massie, would mandate the release of a wide range of Epstein-related materials within 30 days, including investigative files, flight manifests, travel records, internal DOJ communications, and any documents describing the destruction or concealment of evidence. It also covers records involving Epstein’s longtime associate, Ghislaine Maxwell, convicted of sex trafficking in 2021. Epstein died by suicide in 2019 at a federal jail in Manhattan while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges, a death that has fueled enduring suspicion and calls for full disclosure of the government’s records.

The latest news regarding the Epstein filed comes amid renewed scrutiny prompted by the House Oversight Committee’s disclosure last week of more than 20,000 pages from Epstein’s estate. Among the emails was a reference from Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell calling Trump the “dog that hasn’t barked” and claiming he spent hours at Epstein’s residence with one of Epstein’s victims. Trump, however, maintains he ended his relationship with Epstein long before Epstein’s 2008 conviction and has consistently denied involvement in any criminal conduct. Clinton, whom Trump ordered the Justice Department to investigate on Friday along with other prominent Democrats mentioned in recent documents, has categorically denied knowledge of Epstein’s crimes. A Clinton spokesperson said the newly released emails “prove Bill Clinton did nothing and knew nothing” and dismissed the broader controversy as political noise.

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