Revealed Exchanges Illustrate Epstein and Summers as Confidantes
Numerous messages between convicted sex criminal Jeffrey Epstein and former US treasury head Larry Summers have emerged this week, showing the pair acted as confidants.
The messages, covering 2013 to early 2019, reveal the two men sharing personal – and at times improper – opinions on politics and personal connections.
“I’m trying to determine why [the] American elite feel if u murder your baby by beating and abandonment it must be unimportant to your admission to Harvard,”|“I’m trying to|I am attempting to|I'm struggling to} figure why [the] American elite think if u kill 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 message. However hit on a few women 10 years ago and cannot work at a network or think tank. KEEP CONFIDENTIAL THIS OBSERVATION.”
During that period, Harvard University was wrestling with an acceptance debate after a formerly incarcerated woman’s acceptance to a PhD program. Summers, a ex- president of the university who resigned amid a uproar after making discriminatory comments about women in academia, continued in the email to Epstein: I noted that half of the IQ in [the] world was owned by women without stating they are more than 51 percent of population.”
Summers was previously a leading light in liberal circles – a one-time treasury secretary in the Clinton administration, one of the primary designers of Barack Obama’s approach to the economic downturn, and a steadfast figure in the liberal commentariat. But concerns have lingered about his association with Epstein, a longtime associate of Donald Trump. Epstein was charged with a wide-ranging exploitation operation before his demise in custody in 2019 in New York City.
Following disclosure of a earlier set of emails between Epstein and Summers in a 2023 article, a representative for Summers commented that he “is very sorry for being in contact with Epstein after his conviction”.
Left-leaning lawmakers released emails from the Epstein estate this week that indicate Epstein thought Trump was knew about conduct by the now-convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell. In retaliation, Conservative lawmakers released a larger collection of 20,000 emails from the Epstein estate.
These records show that Summers maintained congenial contact with the found guilty 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 look into Epstein’s “role and connection” with Summers, among other well-known liberal leaders and business leaders.
In the emails, Summers and Epstein talk about politics – especially Summers’s disdain for Trump – as well as the particulars of non-profit social networking – and women. Summers, 70, shared with Epstein in a 2019 exchange about his romantic gestures toward an unidentified woman, and being turned down.
“she is clever. ensuring you atone for previous missteps,” 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 reiterated his regret in a recent statement. “There are many things I regret in my life,” he commented. “As previously stated, my connection to Jeffrey Epstein represented a serious lapse in judgment.”
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 appointed a visiting fellow to conduct 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 confessed to child sex offenses in 2008.
By that time Obama’s profile was growing. Summers would ultimately secure 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 philanthropic advice for his wife, Elisa New, a Harvard professor pursuing a poetry project. Epstein and his foundations made gifts to projects linked to Summers’s wife, and the two men met a multiple 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 combatting sex trafficking organizations.