Disclosed Exchanges Illustrate Jeffrey Epstein and Summers as Close Associates
A series of messages between adjudicated sex criminal Jeffrey Epstein and former US treasury head Larry Summers came to light this week, revealing the pair were trusted allies.
The messages, spanning 2013 to early 2019, demonstrate the two men exchanging intimate – and at times questionable – opinions on political matters and interpersonal dynamics.
I'm struggling to figure why [the] American elite feel if u kill your baby by beating and abandonment it must be irrelevant to your entry to Harvard,”|“I’m trying to|I am attempting to|I'm struggling to} determine why [the] American elite think if u take the life of your baby by beating and desertion it must be unimportant to your acceptance to Harvard,”} Summers emailed to Epstein in a 2017 communication. “But hit on a few women 10 years ago and are unable to work at a network or think tank. KEEP CONFIDENTIAL THIS INSIGHT.”
Back then, Harvard University was grappling with an admissions debate after a previously incarcerated woman’s admission to a PhD program. Summers, a one-time president of the university who stepped down amid a controversy after making sexist comments about women scholars, continued in the correspondence to Epstein: I pointed out that half of the IQ in [the] world was held by women without noting they are more than 51 percent of population.”
Summers was at one time a prominent figure in liberal circles – a one-time treasury secretary in the Clinton administration, one of the main architects of Barack Obama’s handling to the economic downturn, and a stalwart presence in the left-leaning punditry. But concerns have persisted about his relationship with Epstein, a former connection of Donald Trump. Epstein was accused of a broad exploitation operation before his death in jail in 2019 in New York City.
Following disclosure of a previous set of emails between Epstein and Summers in a 2023 report, a representative for Summers commented that he “deeply regrets being in contact with Epstein after his guilty verdict”.
Democratic lawmakers made public emails from the Epstein estate this week that imply Epstein believed Trump was aware of conduct by the now-convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell. In response, Conservative lawmakers issued a much bigger batch of 20,000 emails from the Epstein estate.
The released materials show that Summers maintained amicable contact with the adjudicated child sex trafficker well into 2019, with the final email exchange occurring only months before Epstein’s arrest.
Trump stated on Truth Social on Friday that he would be requesting the Department of Justice and the FBI to examine Epstein’s “involvement and association” with Summers, among other influential Democratic figures and corporate executives.
In the emails, Summers and Epstein discuss politics – especially Summers’s dislike for Trump – as well as the particulars of non-profit social networking – and women. Summers, 70, confided in Epstein in a 2019 exchange about his overtures toward an unidentified woman, and being rebuffed.
“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 affirmed his remorse in a recent statement. “There are many things I regret in my life,” he said. “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 gave more than $9m to Harvard and its associated programs between 1998 and 2008, and was appointed a visiting fellow to perform research. The university later determined Epstein “did not have the educational background visiting fellows normally possess and his application proposed a course of study Epstein was ill-equipped to pursue”.
Harvard only discontinued accepting Epstein’s donations after he confessed to child sex offenses in 2008.
By then Obama’s star was rising. Summers would ultimately win 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 philanthropic advice for his wife, Elisa New, a Harvard professor pursuing a poetry project. Epstein and his foundations made charitable contributions to projects associated with Summers’s wife, and the two men saw each other a dozen times between 2013 and 2016, often for dinner.
After media coverage about Epstein’s donations surfaced, New’s charity made a donation “more than” of that received to anti-exploitation organizations.
