Revealed Communications Show Epstein and Summers as Confidantes
A series of messages between adjudicated sex criminal Jeffrey Epstein and former US finance chief Larry Summers came to light this week, revealing the pair were trusted allies.
Their correspondence, spanning 2013 to early 2019, reveal the two men discussing private – and at times questionable – opinions on political matters and personal connections.
I'm struggling to figure why [the] American elite think if u murder your baby by beating and desertion it must be not a factor to your acceptance to Harvard,”|“I’m trying to|I am attempting to|I'm struggling to} understand why [the] American elite believe if u kill your baby by physical abuse and abandonment it must be not a factor to your acceptance to Harvard,”} Summers stated to Epstein in a 2017 message. “But made advances toward a few women 10 years ago and are unable to work at a network or think tank. KEEP CONFIDENTIAL THIS OBSERVATION.”
Back then, Harvard University was wrestling with an acceptance controversy after a previously incarcerated woman’s enrollment to a PhD program. Summers, a ex- president of the university who stepped down amid a controversy after making sexist comments about women in academia, added in the correspondence to Epstein: “I observed 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 at one time a prominent figure in liberal circles – a former treasury secretary in the Clinton administration, one of the key designers of Barack Obama’s handling to the economic downturn, and a stalwart figure in the left-leaning punditry. But concerns have remained about his relationship with Epstein, a longtime contact of Donald Trump. Epstein was accused of a wide-ranging sex trafficking of minors operation before his passing in jail in 2019 in New York City.
Following publication of a prior batch of emails between Epstein and Summers in a 2023 article, a spokesperson for Summers stated that he “deeply regrets being in contact with Epstein after his legal finding”.
Left-leaning lawmakers made public emails from the Epstein estate this week that suggest Epstein believed Trump was had knowledge of conduct by the now-convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell. In retaliation, GOP lawmakers released a more extensive collection of 20,000 emails from the Epstein estate.
These records show that Summers continued congenial contact with the found guilty child sex trafficker well into 2019, with the most recent email exchange occurring only months before Epstein’s detention.
Trump posted on Truth Social on Friday that he would be instructing the Department of Justice and the FBI to look into Epstein’s “role and relationship” with Summers, among other influential liberal leaders and industry figures.
In the emails, Summers and Epstein talk about politics – notably Summers’s dislike for Trump – as well as the details of philanthropic social networking – and women. Summers, 70, disclosed to Epstein in a 2019 exchange about his romantic gestures toward an unidentified 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 sorrow 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 affiliated programs between 1998 and 2008, and was named a visiting fellow to carry out research. The university later found Epstein “lacked the educational background visiting fellows normally possess and his application suggested a course of study Epstein was ill-equipped to pursue”.
Harvard only stopped accepting Epstein’s donations after he confessed to child sex offenses in 2008.
By that time 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 left the White House, he began requesting Epstein for philanthropic advice for his wife, Elisa New, a Harvard professor working on a poetry project. Epstein and his foundations made gifts to projects linked to Summers’s wife, and the two men got together a dozen times between 2013 and 2016, often for dinner.
After media coverage about Epstein’s donations surfaced, New’s charity made a donation “in excess” of that received to combatting sex trafficking organizations.
