Revealed Communications Show Epstein and Larry Summers as Trusted Friends
Numerous exchanges between found guilty child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and one-time US finance chief Larry Summers came to light this week, showing the pair served as trusted allies.
The messages, covering 2013 to early 2019, reveal the two men discussing personal – and at times questionable – views on politics and personal connections.
“I’m trying to determine why [the] American elite think if u take the life of your baby by violence and neglect it must be irrelevant 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 violence and desertion it must be irrelevant to your acceptance to Harvard,”} Summers emailed to Epstein in a 2017 communication. “But hit on a few women 10 years ago and can’t work at a network or think tank. DO NOT SHARE THIS IDEA.”
During that period, Harvard University was grappling with an enrollment debate after a previously incarcerated woman’s acceptance to a PhD program. Summers, a ex- president of the university who stepped down amid a uproar after making gender-biased comments about women scholars, added in the message to Epstein: I noted that half of the IQ in [the] world was held by women without mentioning they are more than 51 percent of the populace.”
Summers was once a prominent figure in Democratic circles – a ex- treasury secretary in the Clinton administration, one of the main architects of Barack Obama’s response to the financial crisis, and a steadfast presence in the liberal commentariat. But questions have lingered about his association with Epstein, a former connection of Donald Trump. Epstein was charged with a broad child sex trafficking operation before his death in jail in 2019 in New York City.
Following disclosure of a previous batch of emails between Epstein and Summers in a 2023 piece, a representative for Summers commented that he “profoundly regrets being in contact with Epstein after his legal finding”.
Left-leaning lawmakers disclosed emails from the Epstein estate this week that suggest Epstein believed Trump was had knowledge of conduct by the now-convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell. In response, Republican lawmakers released a much bigger tranche of 20,000 emails from the Epstein estate.
These records show that Summers continued congenial contact with the convicted child sex trafficker well into 2019, with the last email exchange occurring 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 “role and relationship” with Summers, among other well-known Democrats and corporate executives.
In the emails, Summers and Epstein converse on politics – notably Summers’s contempt for Trump – as well as the details of non-profit social networking – and women. Summers, 70, disclosed to Epstein in a 2019 exchange about his romantic gestures toward an unidentified woman, and being rejected.
“shes smart. making you pay for past errors,” Epstein replied 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 remorse in a recent statement. “I have great regrets in my life,” he commented. “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 “did not have the academic qualifications visiting fellows typically possess and his application outlined a course of study Epstein was unqualified to pursue”.
Harvard only stopped accepting Epstein’s donations after he confessed to child sex offenses in 2008.
By then Obama’s career was advancing. Summers would later secure appointment as director of the White House economic advisory body from January 2009 until November 2010.
After Summers left 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 gifts to projects linked to Summers’s wife, and the two men met a dozen times between 2013 and 2016, often for dinner.
After media coverage about Epstein’s donations emerged, New’s charity made a donation “above and beyond” of that received to combatting sex trafficking organizations.
