Uncovered Exchanges Illustrate Epstein and Larry Summers as Close Associates
A series of exchanges between found guilty sex criminal Jeffrey Epstein and former US finance chief Larry Summers came to light this week, indicating the pair acted as close contacts.
The messages, dating from 2013 to early 2019, demonstrate the two men sharing private – and at times questionable – opinions on public affairs and relationships.
I'm struggling to determine why [the] American elite believe if u kill your baby by beating and desertion it must be unimportant to your entry to Harvard,”|“I’m trying to|I am attempting to|I'm struggling to} figure why [the] American elite feel if u take the life of your baby by physical abuse and desertion it must be irrelevant to your acceptance to Harvard,”} Summers wrote to Epstein in a 2017 email. “But flirted with a few women 10 years ago and cannot work at a network or think tank. DO NOT SHARE THIS OBSERVATION.”
At that time, Harvard University was dealing with an enrollment controversy after a previously incarcerated woman’s acceptance to a PhD program. Summers, a former president of the university who stepped down amid a uproar after making discriminatory comments about female academics, continued in the correspondence to Epstein: I noted 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 once a key player in liberal circles – a ex- treasury secretary in the Clinton administration, one of the key architects of Barack Obama’s response to the financial crisis, and a steadfast presence in the liberal commentariat. But doubts have lingered about his connection with Epstein, a longtime connection of Donald Trump. Epstein was accused of a extensive child sex trafficking operation before his passing in prison in 2019 in New York City.
Following disclosure of a prior set of emails between Epstein and Summers in a 2023 piece, a representative for Summers said that he “is very sorry for being in contact with Epstein after his conviction”.
Left-leaning lawmakers released emails from the Epstein estate this week that indicate Epstein thought Trump was aware of conduct by the now-convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell. In retaliation, Republican lawmakers released a more extensive tranche of 20,000 emails from the Epstein estate.
These records show that Summers kept up congenial contact with the adjudicated child sex trafficker well into 2019, with the final email exchange taking place only months before Epstein’s detention.
Trump stated on Truth Social on Friday that he would be asking the Department of Justice and the FBI to investigate Epstein’s “participation and connection” with Summers, among other influential liberal leaders and business leaders.
In the emails, Summers and Epstein talk about politics – notably Summers’s disdain for Trump – as well as the aspects of philanthropic social networking – and women. Summers, 70, shared with Epstein in a 2019 exchange about his romantic gestures toward an anonymous woman, and being rebuffed.
“she's intelligent. holding you accountable for past mistakes,” Epstein responded 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 reiterated his sorrow in a recent statement. “There are many things I regret in my life,” he said. “As previously stated, my connection to Jeffrey Epstein represented a serious lapse in judgment.”
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 designated a visiting fellow to perform research. The university later found Epstein “did not have the scholarly credentials visiting fellows normally possess and his application outlined a course of study Epstein was unqualified to pursue”.
Harvard only discontinued accepting Epstein’s donations after he admitted guilt to child sex offenses in 2008.
By that time Obama’s star was rising. Summers would eventually win appointment as director of the White House National Economic Council from January 2009 until November 2010.
After Summers exited the White House, he began soliciting Epstein for non-profit advice for his wife, Elisa New, a Harvard professor working on a poetry project. Epstein and his foundations made gifts 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 media coverage about Epstein’s donations came out, New’s charity made a donation “more than” of that received to anti-sex-trafficking organizations.
