Revealed Exchanges Show Epstein and Summers as Close Associates
Numerous exchanges between found guilty child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and ex- US treasury head Larry Summers have emerged this week, revealing the pair acted as trusted allies.
The messages, spanning 2013 to early 2019, reveal the two men discussing intimate – and at times questionable – views on political matters and personal connections.
I am attempting to determine why [the] American elite feel if u kill your baby by physical abuse and desertion it must be irrelevant to your entry to Harvard,”|“I’m trying to|I am attempting to|I'm struggling to} understand why [the] American elite feel if u take the life of your baby by violence and neglect it must be not a factor to your entry to Harvard,”} Summers emailed to Epstein in a 2017 email. However made advances toward a few women 10 years ago and cannot work at a network or think tank. DO NOT SHARE THIS IDEA.”
Back then, Harvard University was dealing with an enrollment controversy after a previously incarcerated woman’s admission to a PhD program. Summers, a ex- president of the university who stepped down amid a uproar after making sexist comments about female academics, added in the correspondence to Epstein: I noted that half of the IQ in [the] world was owned by women without noting they are more than 51 percent of society.”
Summers was once a leading light in the Democratic Party circles – a one-time treasury secretary in the Clinton administration, one of the primary designers of Barack Obama’s response to the market collapse, and a stalwart voice in the left-leaning punditry. But questions have remained about his connection with Epstein, a former associate of Donald Trump. Epstein was accused of a extensive child sex trafficking operation before his passing in custody in 2019 in New York City.
Following disclosure of a prior tranche of emails between Epstein and Summers in a 2023 article, a representative for Summers commented that he “profoundly regrets being in contact with Epstein after his guilty verdict”.
Democratic lawmakers made public emails from the Epstein estate this week that suggest Epstein thought Trump was aware of conduct by the now-convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell. In response, GOP lawmakers released a larger collection of 20,000 emails from the Epstein estate.
These records show that Summers maintained congenial contact with the convicted child sex trafficker well into 2019, with the last email exchange taking place only months before Epstein’s arrest.
Trump wrote on Truth Social on Friday that he would be requesting the Department of Justice and the FBI to examine Epstein’s “participation and relationship” with Summers, among other prominent Democratic figures and business leaders.
In the emails, Summers and Epstein discuss politics – notably Summers’s disdain for Trump – as well as the particulars of non-profit social networking – and women. Summers, 70, disclosed to Epstein in a 2019 exchange about his overtures toward an anonymous woman, and being rejected.
“shes smart. making you pay for past errors,” 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 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 affiliated programs between 1998 and 2008, and was designated a visiting fellow to perform research. The university later concluded Epstein “lacked the educational background visiting fellows normally possess and his application suggested a course of study Epstein was not prepared to pursue”.
Harvard only ceased accepting Epstein’s donations after he pleaded guilty to child sex offenses in 2008.
By then Obama’s profile was growing. Summers would later win appointment as director of the White House economic advisory body 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 philanthropic donations to projects associated with Summers’s wife, and the two men met a twelve times between 2013 and 2016, often for dinner.
After media coverage about Epstein’s donations came out, New’s charity made a donation “in excess” of that received to combatting sex trafficking organizations.
