Disclosed Emails Show Epstein and Larry Summers as Confidantes

Multiple messages between adjudicated sex criminal Jeffrey Epstein and ex- US treasury head Larry Summers came to light this week, indicating the pair acted as close contacts.

These exchanges, covering 2013 to early 2019, show the two men sharing intimate – and at times unseemly – views on politics and interpersonal dynamics.

I'm struggling to determine why [the] American elite think if u murder your baby by violence and neglect it must be unimportant to your acceptance 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 violence and desertion it must be not a factor to your acceptance to Harvard,”} Summers emailed to Epstein in a 2017 communication. Yet made advances toward a few women 10 years ago and are unable to work at a network or think tank. DO NOT SHARE THIS IDEA.”

Back then, Harvard University was grappling with an enrollment debate after a once incarcerated woman’s admission to a PhD program. Summers, a ex- president of the university who resigned amid a uproar after making discriminatory comments about women in academia, added in the email to Epstein: I noted that half of the IQ in [the] world was owned by women without mentioning they are more than 51 percent of population.”

Summers was previously a key player in liberal circles – a former treasury secretary in the Clinton administration, one of the primary engineers of Barack Obama’s response to the market collapse, and a stalwart presence in the liberal commentariat. But questions have remained about his connection with Epstein, a long-standing associate of Donald Trump. Epstein was charged with a wide-ranging exploitation operation before his passing in custody in 2019 in New York City.

Following disclosure of a prior batch of emails between Epstein and Summers in a 2023 article, a representative for Summers stated that he “profoundly regrets being in contact with Epstein after his legal finding”.

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 retaliation, GOP lawmakers published a much bigger collection of 20,000 emails from the Epstein estate.

The documents show that Summers continued congenial contact with the adjudicated child sex trafficker well into 2019, with the most recent email exchange taking place only months before Epstein’s arrest.

Trump posted 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 corporate executives.

In the emails, Summers and Epstein talk about politics – notably Summers’s disdain for Trump – as well as the aspects of non-profit social networking – and women. Summers, 70, shared with Epstein in a 2019 exchange about his advances toward an anonymous woman, and being rejected.

“she is clever. ensuring you atone for previous missteps,” Epstein responded in an exchange on 16 March. “ignore the daddy im going to go out with the motorcycle guy, you reacted well.. annoyed shows caring., no whining showed strentgh.”

Summers affirmed his regret in a recent statement. “There are many things I regret 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 contributed more than $9m to Harvard and its associated programs between 1998 and 2008, and was appointed a visiting fellow to carry out research. The university later determined Epstein “did not have the scholarly credentials visiting fellows normally possess and his application outlined a course of study Epstein was ill-equipped to pursue”.

Harvard only ceased accepting Epstein’s donations after he pleaded guilty to child sex offenses in 2008.

By that time Obama’s career was advancing. Summers would later win appointment as director of the White House National Economic Council 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 working on a poetry project. Epstein and his foundations made charitable contributions to projects linked to Summers’s wife, and the two men saw each other a multiple times between 2013 and 2016, often for dinner.

After media coverage about Epstein’s donations emerged, New’s charity made a donation “in excess” of that received to anti-sex-trafficking organizations.