Uncovered Emails Show Jeffrey Epstein and Larry Summers as Confidantes
Numerous messages between convicted offender Jeffrey Epstein and one-time US finance chief Larry Summers came to light this week, showing the pair were close contacts.
The messages, dating from 2013 to early 2019, reveal the two men exchanging intimate – and at times unseemly – views on politics and interpersonal dynamics.
“I’m trying to determine why [the] American elite believe if u murder your baby by violence and neglect it must be not a factor 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 take the life of your baby by beating and desertion it must be unimportant to your acceptance to Harvard,”} Summers emailed to Epstein in a 2017 communication. “But hit on a few women 10 years ago and are unable to work at a network or think tank. DO NOT SHARE THIS IDEA.”
During that period, Harvard University was grappling with an admissions discussion after a formerly incarcerated woman’s acceptance to a PhD program. Summers, a ex- president of the university who resigned amid a scandal after making gender-biased comments about women scholars, added in the correspondence to Epstein: I pointed out that half of the IQ in [the] world was held by women without stating they are more than 51 percent of the populace.”
Summers was previously a leading light in the Democratic Party circles – a ex- treasury secretary in the Clinton administration, one of the key engineers of Barack Obama’s response to the market collapse, and a stalwart figure in the left-leaning punditry. But questions have remained about his association with Epstein, a former associate of Donald Trump. Epstein was alleged to have run a extensive sex trafficking of minors operation before his demise in jail in 2019 in New York City.
Following publication of a earlier batch of emails between Epstein and Summers in a 2023 piece, a representative for Summers commented that he “deeply regrets being in contact with Epstein after his guilty verdict”.
Left-leaning lawmakers made public emails from the Epstein estate this week that imply Epstein thought Trump was knew about conduct by the now-convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell. In reply, Conservative lawmakers released a much bigger tranche of 20,000 emails from the Epstein estate.
These records show that Summers continued friendly contact with the found guilty child sex trafficker well into 2019, with the last email exchange taking place only months before Epstein’s detention.
Trump stated on Truth Social on Friday that he would be instructing the Department of Justice and the FBI to examine Epstein’s “participation and relationship” with Summers, among other well-known Democrats and industry figures.
In the emails, Summers and Epstein discuss politics – particularly Summers’s dislike for Trump – as well as the details of charitable social networking – and women. Summers, 70, confided in Epstein in a 2019 exchange about his overtures toward an anonymous woman, and being turned down.
“she is clever. ensuring you atone for previous missteps,” Epstein responded in an exchange on 16 March. “overlook the 'daddy' remark, I'm dating the motorcycle guy, you responded appropriately.. frustration signals affection., no protests revealed fortitude.”
Summers restated his remorse in a recent statement. “I have great regrets in my life,” he commented. “I’ve expressed this previously: my relationship with Jeffrey Epstein was a grave mistake.”
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 named a visiting fellow to conduct research. The university later found Epstein “lacked the educational background visiting fellows normally possess and his application outlined a course of study Epstein was ill-equipped to pursue”.
Harvard only discontinued accepting Epstein’s donations after he admitted guilt to child sex offenses in 2008.
By that time Obama’s career was advancing. Summers would ultimately secure appointment as director of the White House economic advisory body from January 2009 until November 2010.
After Summers departed the White House, he began asking Epstein for charitable advice for his wife, Elisa New, a Harvard professor developing a poetry project. Epstein and his foundations made charitable contributions to projects linked to Summers’s wife, and the two men met a multiple times between 2013 and 2016, often for dinner.
After news about Epstein’s donations surfaced, New’s charity made a donation “in excess” of that received to combatting sex trafficking organizations.
