Uncovered Exchanges Show Epstein and Larry Summers as Close Associates
A series of communications between convicted child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and ex- US treasury head Larry Summers have emerged this week, revealing the pair acted as close contacts.
The messages, spanning 2013 to early 2019, show the two men exchanging personal – and at times improper – opinions on political matters and interpersonal dynamics.
I'm struggling to figure why [the] American elite feel if u kill your baby by physical abuse and desertion it must be not a factor to your entry to Harvard,”|“I’m trying to|I am attempting to|I'm struggling to} figure why [the] American elite think if u kill your baby by beating and neglect it must be irrelevant to your entry to Harvard,”} Summers wrote to Epstein in a 2017 email. Yet flirted with a few women 10 years ago and cannot work at a network or think tank. DO NOT SHARE THIS INSIGHT.”
At that time, Harvard University was grappling with an enrollment debate after a previously incarcerated woman’s admission to a PhD program. Summers, a one-time president of the university who lost his position amid a uproar after making discriminatory comments about women in academia, added in the correspondence to Epstein: I noted that half of the IQ in [the] world was held by women without stating they are more than 51 percent of society.”
Summers was previously a leading light in Democratic circles – a one-time treasury secretary in the Clinton administration, one of the main architects of Barack Obama’s handling to the market collapse, and a steadfast voice in the progressive media. But concerns have remained about his connection with Epstein, a long-standing contact of Donald Trump. Epstein was accused of a wide-ranging child sex trafficking operation before his passing in prison in 2019 in New York City.
Following the release of a prior batch of emails between Epstein and Summers in a 2023 report, a agent for Summers stated that he “is very sorry for being in contact with Epstein after his legal finding”.
Democratic lawmakers disclosed emails from the Epstein estate this week that suggest Epstein thought Trump was knew about conduct by the now-convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell. In reply, GOP lawmakers issued a larger tranche of 20,000 emails from the Epstein estate.
These records show that Summers continued friendly contact with the found guilty child sex trafficker well into 2019, with the most recent email exchange happening only months before Epstein’s detention.
Trump stated on Truth Social on Friday that he would be requesting the Department of Justice and the FBI to look into Epstein’s “participation and association” with Summers, among other prominent liberal leaders and industry figures.
In the emails, Summers and Epstein discuss politics – especially Summers’s dislike for Trump – as well as the details of charitable social networking – and women. Summers, 70, confided in Epstein in a 2019 exchange about his romantic gestures toward an unidentified woman, and being rebuffed.
“she is clever. ensuring you atone for previous missteps,” Epstein replied in an exchange on 16 March. “ignore the daddy im going to go out with the motorcycle guy, you reacted well.. annoyed shows caring., no whining showed strentgh.”
Summers reiterated his sorrow in a recent statement. “There are many things I regret in my life,” he commented. “As I have said before, my association with Jeffrey Epstein was a major error of judgement.”
Summers was president of Harvard University from 2001 to 2006. Epstein donated more than $9m to Harvard and its affiliated programs between 1998 and 2008, and was designated a visiting fellow to perform research. The university later found Epstein “did not have the scholarly credentials visiting fellows usually possess and his application suggested a course of study Epstein was unqualified to pursue”.
Harvard only discontinued accepting Epstein’s donations after he confessed to child sex offenses in 2008.
At that point Obama’s star was rising. Summers would ultimately secure appointment as director of the White House NEC from January 2009 until November 2010.
After Summers departed the White House, he began asking Epstein for charitable advice for his wife, Elisa New, a Harvard professor working on a poetry project. Epstein and his foundations made philanthropic donations to projects connected to Summers’s wife, and the two men saw each other a twelve times between 2013 and 2016, often for dinner.
After reporting about Epstein’s donations surfaced, New’s charity made a donation “above and beyond” of that received to combatting sex trafficking organizations.