Revealed Exchanges Illustrate Epstein and Summers as Confidantes
Numerous exchanges between adjudicated child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and former US treasury head Larry Summers came to light this week, indicating the pair were confidants.
Their correspondence, dating from 2013 to early 2019, show the two men discussing private – and at times improper – views on politics and relationships.
I am attempting to understand why [the] American elite believe if u murder your baby by physical abuse 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} understand why [the] American elite feel if u kill your baby by violence and desertion it must be irrelevant to your admission to Harvard,”} Summers wrote to Epstein in a 2017 communication. However hit on a few women 10 years ago and are unable to work at a network or think tank. KEEP CONFIDENTIAL THIS INSIGHT.”
During that period, Harvard University was dealing with an admissions controversy after a formerly incarcerated woman’s admission to a PhD program. Summers, a ex- president of the university who stepped down amid a uproar after making gender-biased comments about women scholars, went on to say in the correspondence to Epstein: I pointed out that half of the IQ in [the] world was possessed by women without noting they are more than 51 percent of the populace.”
Summers was once a key player in Democratic circles – a one-time treasury secretary in the Clinton administration, one of the key architects of Barack Obama’s response to the financial crisis, and a committed figure in the left-leaning punditry. But questions have remained about his relationship with Epstein, a former contact of Donald Trump. Epstein was charged with a wide-ranging sex trafficking of minors operation before his demise in jail in 2019 in New York City.
Following disclosure of a previous tranche of emails between Epstein and Summers in a 2023 article, a representative for Summers commented that he “profoundly regrets being in contact with Epstein after his conviction”.
Democratic lawmakers disclosed emails from the Epstein estate this week that imply Epstein was of the opinion Trump was had knowledge of conduct by the now-convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell. In retaliation, GOP lawmakers published a more extensive collection of 20,000 emails from the Epstein estate.
The documents show that Summers kept up congenial contact with the adjudicated 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 asking the Department of Justice and the FBI to investigate Epstein’s “role and connection” with Summers, among other well-known liberal leaders and industry figures.
In the emails, Summers and Epstein converse on politics – especially Summers’s dislike for Trump – as well as the details of charitable social networking – and women. Summers, 70, disclosed to 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 responded 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 regret in a recent statement. “I have great regrets in my life,” he wrote. “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 designated a visiting fellow to perform research. The university later concluded Epstein “was missing the educational background visiting fellows normally possess and his application outlined a course of study Epstein was ill-equipped to pursue”.
Harvard only discontinued accepting Epstein’s donations after he admitted guilt to child sex offenses in 2008.
At that point Obama’s career was advancing. Summers would eventually secure appointment as director of the White House NEC from January 2009 until November 2010.
After Summers left the White House, he began soliciting Epstein for charitable advice for his wife, Elisa New, a Harvard professor developing a poetry project. Epstein and his foundations made gifts to projects associated with Summers’s wife, and the two men got together a multiple times between 2013 and 2016, often for dinner.
After news about Epstein’s donations surfaced, New’s charity made a donation “above and beyond” of that received to combatting sex trafficking organizations.