Uncovered Communications Show Jeffrey Epstein and Summers as Confidantes
A series of communications between adjudicated sex criminal Jeffrey Epstein and ex- US treasury head Larry Summers were released this week, revealing the pair served as confidants.
Their correspondence, dating from 2013 to early 2019, show the two men discussing intimate – and at times improper – opinions on politics and interpersonal dynamics.
I am attempting to figure why [the] American elite believe if u murder your baby by beating and neglect it must be unimportant to your admission to Harvard,”|“I’m trying to|I am attempting to|I'm struggling to} determine why [the] American elite believe if u take the life of your baby by physical abuse and neglect it must be not a factor to your admission to Harvard,”} Summers wrote to Epstein in a 2017 communication. However made advances toward a few women 10 years ago and cannot work at a network or think tank. DO NOT REPEAT THIS OBSERVATION.”
During that period, Harvard University was dealing with an acceptance discussion after a once incarcerated woman’s admission to a PhD program. Summers, a one-time president of the university who resigned amid a scandal after making gender-biased comments about female academics, went on to say in the message 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 society.”
Summers was at one time a leading light in the Democratic Party circles – a ex- treasury secretary in the Clinton administration, one of the primary architects of Barack Obama’s approach to the financial crisis, and a stalwart voice in the left-leaning punditry. But doubts have persisted about his association with Epstein, a long-standing associate of Donald Trump. Epstein was charged with a broad sex trafficking of minors operation before his demise in custody in 2019 in New York City.
Following the release of a prior tranche of emails between Epstein and Summers in a 2023 piece, a spokesperson for Summers said that he “is very sorry for being in contact with Epstein after his conviction”.
Left-leaning lawmakers made public emails from the Epstein estate this week that suggest Epstein believed Trump was knew about conduct by the now-convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell. In response, Conservative lawmakers issued a much bigger tranche of 20,000 emails from the Epstein estate.
These records show that Summers kept up amicable contact with the adjudicated child sex trafficker well into 2019, with the last email exchange taking place only months before Epstein’s apprehension.
Trump wrote on Truth Social on Friday that he would be requesting the Department of Justice and the FBI to look into Epstein’s “participation and relationship” with Summers, among other well-known liberal leaders and corporate executives.
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, shared with Epstein in a 2019 exchange about his romantic gestures toward an unidentified woman, and being rebuffed.
“she is clever. ensuring you atone for previous missteps,” 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 sorrow in a recent statement. “I have great regrets 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 gave more than $9m to Harvard and its related programs between 1998 and 2008, and was appointed a visiting fellow to conduct research. The university later determined Epstein “did not have the academic qualifications visiting fellows normally possess and his application suggested 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 then Obama’s profile was growing. Summers would later secure appointment as director of the White House National Economic Council from January 2009 until November 2010.
After Summers left the White House, he began asking Epstein for philanthropic advice for his wife, Elisa New, a Harvard professor developing 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 came out, New’s charity made a donation “more than” of that received to combatting sex trafficking organizations.