Disclosed Communications Illustrate Jeffrey Epstein and Summers as Close Associates
A series of communications between adjudicated offender Jeffrey Epstein and one-time US finance chief Larry Summers have emerged this week, showing the pair acted as close contacts.
The messages, spanning 2013 to early 2019, show the two men discussing private – and at times questionable – opinions on public affairs and relationships.
I'm struggling to figure why [the] American elite feel if u kill your baby by violence and abandonment 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 feel if u kill your baby by beating and desertion it must be unimportant to your acceptance to Harvard,”} Summers emailed to Epstein in a 2017 communication. However hit on a few women 10 years ago and cannot work at a network or think tank. DO NOT REPEAT THIS IDEA.”
During that period, Harvard University was wrestling with an acceptance discussion after a previously incarcerated woman’s acceptance to a PhD program. Summers, a one-time president of the university who resigned amid a controversy after making sexist comments about women in academia, went on to say in the correspondence to Epstein: I pointed out 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 prominent figure in Democratic circles – a ex- treasury secretary in the Clinton administration, one of the main engineers of Barack Obama’s response to the economic downturn, and a stalwart figure in the progressive media. But questions have persisted about his relationship with Epstein, a long-standing contact of Donald Trump. Epstein was charged with a broad child sex trafficking operation before his passing in jail in 2019 in New York City.
Following the release of a previous batch of emails between Epstein and Summers in a 2023 article, a spokesperson for Summers said that he “is very sorry for being in contact with Epstein after his conviction”.
Democratic Party 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, Republican lawmakers issued a larger batch of 20,000 emails from the Epstein estate.
The documents show that Summers kept up friendly contact with the found guilty child sex trafficker well into 2019, with the most recent email exchange taking place 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 “participation and relationship” with Summers, among other prominent liberal leaders and business leaders.
In the emails, Summers and Epstein converse on politics – particularly Summers’s dislike for Trump – as well as the aspects of charitable 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.
“shes smart. making you pay for past errors,” Epstein responded 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 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 contributed more than $9m to Harvard and its related programs between 1998 and 2008, and was named a visiting fellow to conduct research. The university later concluded Epstein “was missing the academic qualifications visiting fellows normally possess and his application outlined a course of study Epstein was not prepared to pursue”.
Harvard only ceased accepting Epstein’s donations after he confessed to child sex offenses in 2008.
By then Obama’s profile was growing. Summers would eventually receive appointment as director of the White House National Economic Council from January 2009 until November 2010.
After Summers departed the White House, he began soliciting Epstein for philanthropic advice for his wife, Elisa New, a Harvard professor pursuing a poetry project. Epstein and his foundations made charitable contributions to projects linked to Summers’s wife, and the two men met a twelve times between 2013 and 2016, often for dinner.
After news about Epstein’s donations emerged, New’s charity made a donation “above and beyond” of that received to anti-exploitation organizations.