Uncovered Exchanges Illustrate Epstein and Larry Summers as Confidantes
Multiple messages between convicted child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and ex- US treasury head Larry Summers were released this week, showing the pair served as trusted allies.
These exchanges, dating from 2013 to early 2019, demonstrate the two men sharing private – and at times improper – opinions on public affairs and interpersonal dynamics.
“I’m trying to understand why [the] American elite feel if u kill your baby by physical abuse and desertion it must be irrelevant to your admission to Harvard,”|“I’m trying to|I am attempting to|I'm struggling to} understand why [the] American elite feel if u take the life of your baby by physical abuse and abandonment it must be not a factor to your entry to Harvard,”} Summers wrote to Epstein in a 2017 email. Yet made advances toward a few women 10 years ago and are unable to work at a network or think tank. KEEP CONFIDENTIAL THIS IDEA.”
Back then, Harvard University was dealing with an admissions discussion after a formerly incarcerated woman’s enrollment to a PhD program. Summers, a one-time president of the university who stepped down amid a controversy after making gender-biased 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 owned by women without noting they are more than 51 percent of society.”
Summers was once a leading light in Democratic circles – a one-time treasury secretary in the Clinton administration, one of the main architects of Barack Obama’s response to the financial crisis, and a committed voice in the progressive media. But concerns have lingered about his association with Epstein, a longtime connection of Donald Trump. Epstein was alleged to have run a broad sex trafficking of minors operation before his passing in custody in 2019 in New York City.
Following disclosure of a prior batch of emails between Epstein and Summers in a 2023 piece, a representative for Summers said that he “is very sorry for being in contact with Epstein after his conviction”.
Left-leaning lawmakers disclosed emails from the Epstein estate this week that imply Epstein was of the opinion Trump was knew about conduct by the now-convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell. In reply, Conservative lawmakers published a more extensive tranche of 20,000 emails from the Epstein estate.
The documents show that Summers maintained amicable contact with the adjudicated child sex trafficker well into 2019, with the final email exchange taking place only months before Epstein’s arrest.
Trump posted 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 well-known liberal leaders and industry figures.
In the emails, Summers and Epstein converse on politics – notably Summers’s dislike for Trump – as well as the details of philanthropic social networking – and women. Summers, 70, shared with Epstein in a 2019 exchange about his romantic gestures toward an anonymous woman, and being rejected.
“she is clever. ensuring you atone for previous missteps,” Epstein responded 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 reiterated his regret in a recent statement. “I harbor significant regrets in my lifetime,” he wrote. “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 associated programs between 1998 and 2008, and was named a visiting fellow to perform research. The university later concluded Epstein “lacked the educational background visiting fellows usually possess and his application suggested a course of study Epstein was not prepared to pursue”.
Harvard only stopped accepting Epstein’s donations after he admitted guilt to child sex offenses in 2008.
At that point Obama’s star was rising. Summers would later receive appointment as director of the White House National Economic Council from January 2009 until November 2010.
After Summers departed the White House, he began soliciting Epstein for non-profit advice for his wife, Elisa New, a Harvard professor developing a poetry project. Epstein and his foundations made charitable contributions to projects connected to Summers’s wife, and the two men met a dozen times between 2013 and 2016, often for dinner.
After media coverage about Epstein’s donations surfaced, New’s charity made a donation “above and beyond” of that received to anti-sex-trafficking organizations.
