Disclosed Emails Illustrate Jeffrey Epstein and Summers as Trusted Friends
A series of communications between found guilty child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and former US finance chief Larry Summers were released this week, revealing the pair were trusted allies.
These exchanges, dating from 2013 to early 2019, reveal the two men exchanging personal – and at times improper – views on public affairs and relationships.
I am attempting to figure why [the] American elite believe if u murder your baby by physical abuse and desertion it must be unimportant to your acceptance to Harvard,”|“I’m trying to|I am attempting to|I'm struggling to} understand why [the] American elite feel if u murder your baby by beating and desertion it must be not a factor to your admission to Harvard,”} Summers wrote to Epstein in a 2017 message. “But made advances toward a few women 10 years ago and are unable to work at a network or think tank. DO NOT REPEAT THIS INSIGHT.”
At that time, Harvard University was dealing with an enrollment discussion after a formerly incarcerated woman’s admission to a PhD program. Summers, a ex- president of the university who lost his position amid a uproar after making gender-biased comments about women in academia, added in the correspondence to Epstein: I pointed out that half of the IQ in [the] world was held by women without mentioning they are more than 51 percent of society.”
Summers was at one time a key player in the Democratic Party circles – a former treasury secretary in the Clinton administration, one of the key architects of Barack Obama’s response to the economic downturn, and a stalwart voice in the progressive media. But concerns have persisted about his connection with Epstein, a longtime associate of Donald Trump. Epstein was alleged to have run a extensive child sex trafficking operation before his demise in prison in 2019 in New York City.
Following publication of a previous batch of emails between Epstein and Summers in a 2023 article, a agent for Summers stated that he “deeply regrets being in contact with Epstein after his conviction”.
Left-leaning lawmakers made public emails from the Epstein estate this week that imply Epstein thought Trump was had knowledge of conduct by the now-convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell. In retaliation, Republican lawmakers issued a more extensive batch 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 occurring only months before Epstein’s apprehension.
Trump wrote on Truth Social on Friday that he would be instructing the Department of Justice and the FBI to investigate Epstein’s “involvement and connection” with Summers, among other well-known Democratic figures and business leaders.
In the emails, Summers and Epstein converse on politics – especially Summers’s disdain for Trump – as well as the aspects of charitable social networking – and women. Summers, 70, shared with Epstein in a 2019 exchange about his overtures toward an anonymous woman, and being rebuffed.
“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 affirmed his remorse in a recent statement. “I harbor significant regrets in my lifetime,” 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 affiliated programs between 1998 and 2008, and was named a visiting fellow to perform research. The university later determined Epstein “did not have the educational background visiting fellows normally possess and his application outlined a course of study Epstein was unqualified to pursue”.
Harvard only stopped accepting Epstein’s donations after he admitted guilt to child sex offenses in 2008.
By then Obama’s star was rising. Summers would ultimately receive appointment as director of the White House NEC from January 2009 until November 2010.
After Summers left the White House, he began soliciting Epstein for philanthropic advice for his wife, Elisa New, a Harvard professor working on a poetry project. Epstein and his foundations made philanthropic donations to projects linked to Summers’s wife, and the two men saw each other a dozen times between 2013 and 2016, often for dinner.
After news about Epstein’s donations surfaced, New’s charity made a donation “more than” of that received to anti-sex-trafficking organizations.
