Disclosed Exchanges Illustrate Epstein and Summers as Trusted Friends
Multiple messages between convicted sex criminal Jeffrey Epstein and ex- US finance chief Larry Summers were released this week, showing the pair served as close contacts.
Their correspondence, covering 2013 to early 2019, reveal the two men sharing intimate – and at times questionable – perspectives on public affairs and relationships.
I'm struggling to figure why [the] American elite feel if u murder your baby by violence and neglect 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 believe if u take the life of your baby by beating and desertion it must be irrelevant to your acceptance to Harvard,”} Summers wrote to Epstein in a 2017 communication. “But hit on a few women 10 years ago and cannot work at a network or think tank. DO NOT SHARE THIS IDEA.”
During that period, Harvard University was wrestling with an enrollment controversy after a formerly incarcerated woman’s enrollment to a PhD program. Summers, a ex- president of the university who resigned amid a scandal after making gender-biased comments about women in academia, went on to say in the email to Epstein: I noted that half of the IQ in [the] world was possessed by women without mentioning they are more than 51 percent of the populace.”
Summers was once a leading light in Democratic circles – a one-time treasury secretary in the Clinton administration, one of the key architects of Barack Obama’s approach to the market collapse, and a steadfast presence in the liberal commentariat. But doubts have persisted about his relationship with Epstein, a longtime associate of Donald Trump. Epstein was charged with a broad child sex trafficking operation before his demise in custody in 2019 in New York City.
Following disclosure of a prior batch of emails between Epstein and Summers in a 2023 article, a representative for Summers said that he “profoundly regrets being in contact with Epstein after his guilty verdict”.
Democratic Party lawmakers made public emails from the Epstein estate this week that suggest Epstein was of the opinion Trump was knew about conduct by the now-convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell. In response, Republican lawmakers released a larger collection of 20,000 emails from the Epstein estate.
The released materials show that Summers continued congenial contact with the found guilty child sex trafficker well into 2019, with the last email exchange happening only months before Epstein’s apprehension.
Trump stated on Truth Social on Friday that he would be asking the Department of Justice and the FBI to investigate Epstein’s “role and association” with Summers, among other influential Democratic figures and industry figures.
In the emails, Summers and Epstein converse on politics – especially Summers’s contempt for Trump – as well as the aspects of philanthropic social networking – and women. Summers, 70, confided in Epstein in a 2019 exchange about his romantic gestures toward an unnamed woman, and being turned down.
“she's intelligent. holding you accountable for past mistakes,” 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 regret 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 donated more than $9m to Harvard and its associated programs between 1998 and 2008, and was named a visiting fellow to carry out research. The university later concluded Epstein “lacked the educational background visiting fellows typically possess and his application suggested a course of study Epstein was not prepared to pursue”.
Harvard only discontinued accepting Epstein’s donations after he confessed to child sex offenses in 2008.
By that time Obama’s star was rising. Summers would eventually win appointment as director of the White House National Economic Council from January 2009 until November 2010.
After Summers exited the White House, he began requesting Epstein for non-profit advice for his wife, Elisa New, a Harvard professor working on a poetry project. Epstein and his foundations made charitable contributions to projects linked to Summers’s wife, and the two men met a dozen 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 anti-sex-trafficking organizations.
