Revealed Communications Show Jeffrey Epstein and Summers as Trusted Friends
Multiple communications between convicted sex criminal Jeffrey Epstein and one-time US Treasury Secretary Larry Summers came to light this week, revealing the pair served as confidants.
Their correspondence, covering 2013 to early 2019, demonstrate the two men sharing private – and at times unseemly – views on politics and interpersonal dynamics.
I'm struggling to determine why [the] American elite think if u take the life of your baby by violence and neglect it must be unimportant to your acceptance to Harvard,”|“I’m trying to|I am attempting to|I'm struggling to} determine why [the] American elite feel if u take the life of your baby by beating and abandonment it must be not a factor to your entry to Harvard,”} Summers wrote to Epstein in a 2017 communication. However made advances toward a few women 10 years ago and can’t work at a network or think tank. DO NOT SHARE THIS INSIGHT.”
At that time, Harvard University was grappling with an enrollment discussion after a previously incarcerated woman’s enrollment to a PhD program. Summers, a former president of the university who resigned amid a scandal after making discriminatory comments about women in academia, went on to say in the message to Epstein: “I observed that half of the IQ in [the] world was owned by women without mentioning they are more than 51 percent of the populace.”
Summers was at one time a key player in liberal circles – a one-time treasury secretary in the Clinton administration, one of the key designers of Barack Obama’s handling to the market collapse, and a stalwart voice in the left-leaning punditry. But concerns have lingered about his relationship with Epstein, a longtime contact of Donald Trump. Epstein was charged with a extensive exploitation operation before his passing in custody in 2019 in New York City.
Following disclosure of a earlier set of emails between Epstein and Summers in a 2023 piece, a agent for Summers said that he “deeply regrets being in contact with Epstein after his conviction”.
Democratic Party lawmakers released emails from the Epstein estate this week that suggest Epstein was of the opinion Trump was had knowledge of conduct by the now-convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell. In retaliation, Republican lawmakers released a much bigger batch of 20,000 emails from the Epstein estate.
The released materials show that Summers kept up friendly contact with the adjudicated child sex trafficker well into 2019, with the last email exchange taking place only months before Epstein’s detention.
Trump posted on Truth Social on Friday that he would be requesting the Department of Justice and the FBI to investigate Epstein’s “involvement and connection” with Summers, among other influential liberal leaders and industry figures.
In the emails, Summers and Epstein talk about politics – notably Summers’s contempt for Trump – as well as the details of non-profit social networking – and women. Summers, 70, shared with Epstein in a 2019 exchange about his romantic gestures toward an anonymous woman, and being rejected.
“shes smart. making you pay for past errors,” Epstein wrote 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. “I have great regrets in my life,” he commented. “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 related programs between 1998 and 2008, and was appointed a visiting fellow to carry out research. The university later concluded Epstein “was missing the scholarly credentials visiting fellows typically possess and his application outlined a course of study Epstein was unqualified to pursue”.
Harvard only discontinued accepting Epstein’s donations after he pleaded guilty to child sex offenses in 2008.
By that time Obama’s career was advancing. Summers would later secure appointment as director of the White House NEC 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 philanthropic donations to projects associated with Summers’s wife, and the two men met a dozen times between 2013 and 2016, often for dinner.
After reporting about Epstein’s donations emerged, New’s charity made a donation “in excess” of that received to combatting sex trafficking organizations.