Disclosed Communications Illustrate Jeffrey Epstein and Summers as Close Associates
Multiple communications between found guilty offender Jeffrey Epstein and one-time US treasury head Larry Summers came to light this week, indicating the pair served as trusted allies.
The messages, spanning 2013 to early 2019, show the two men discussing private – and at times unseemly – views on public affairs and interpersonal dynamics.
I am attempting to figure why [the] American elite think if u take the life of your baby by beating and abandonment it must be irrelevant to your admission to Harvard,”|“I’m trying to|I am attempting to|I'm struggling to} determine why [the] American elite think if u kill your baby by physical abuse and neglect it must be not a factor to your acceptance to Harvard,”} Summers stated to Epstein in a 2017 communication. Yet made advances toward a few women 10 years ago and cannot work at a network or think tank. KEEP CONFIDENTIAL THIS INSIGHT.”
At that time, Harvard University was grappling with an admissions debate after a previously incarcerated woman’s acceptance to a PhD program. Summers, a one-time president of the university who stepped down amid a uproar after making sexist comments about women in academia, went on to say in the message to Epstein: I noted that half of the IQ in [the] world was held by women without noting they are more than 51 percent of the populace.”
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 financial crisis, and a stalwart voice in the liberal commentariat. But questions have remained about his association with Epstein, a longtime contact of Donald Trump. Epstein was accused of a wide-ranging exploitation operation before his demise in custody in 2019 in New York City.
Following disclosure of a earlier batch of emails between Epstein and Summers in a 2023 report, a agent for Summers stated that he “deeply regrets being in contact with Epstein after his guilty verdict”.
Democratic Party lawmakers disclosed emails from the Epstein estate this week that indicate Epstein thought Trump was knew about conduct by the now-convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell. In response, Republican lawmakers published a larger collection of 20,000 emails from the Epstein estate.
The released materials show that Summers continued congenial contact with the convicted child sex trafficker well into 2019, with the last email exchange occurring only months before Epstein’s detention.
Trump wrote on Truth Social on Friday that he would be requesting the Department of Justice and the FBI to look into Epstein’s “involvement and relationship” with Summers, among other influential Democratic figures and corporate executives.
In the emails, Summers and Epstein converse on politics – particularly Summers’s contempt for Trump – as well as the aspects of charitable social networking – and women. Summers, 70, shared with Epstein in a 2019 exchange about his advances toward an unnamed woman, and being rejected.
“shes smart. making you pay for past errors,” Epstein replied in an exchange on 16 March. “disregard the 'daddy' comment, I'm going out with the motorcycle guy, you handled it well.. irritation indicates concern., no complaining demonstrated strength.”
Summers restated his sorrow in a recent statement. “I harbor significant regrets in my lifetime,” he commented. “I’ve expressed this previously: my relationship with Jeffrey Epstein was a grave mistake.”
Summers was president of Harvard University from 2001 to 2006. Epstein donated more than $9m to Harvard and its related programs between 1998 and 2008, and was appointed a visiting fellow to carry out research. The university later found Epstein “did not have the scholarly credentials visiting fellows normally possess and his application suggested a course of study Epstein was not prepared to pursue”.
Harvard only stopped accepting Epstein’s donations after he pleaded guilty to child sex offenses in 2008.
By that time Obama’s career was advancing. Summers would later win appointment as director of the White House economic advisory body from January 2009 until November 2010.
After Summers exited the White House, he began requesting Epstein for charitable advice for his wife, Elisa New, a Harvard professor working on a poetry project. Epstein and his foundations made charitable contributions to projects associated with Summers’s wife, and the two men got together a dozen times between 2013 and 2016, often for dinner.
After news about Epstein’s donations surfaced, New’s charity made a donation “in excess” of that received to anti-sex-trafficking organizations.
