Uncovered Emails Illustrate Epstein and Larry Summers as Confidantes

Numerous exchanges between convicted offender Jeffrey Epstein and former US finance chief Larry Summers came to light this week, indicating the pair served as close contacts.

The messages, covering 2013 to early 2019, show the two men sharing private – and at times questionable – views on public affairs and personal connections.

I'm struggling to figure why [the] American elite believe 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 kill your baby by violence and neglect it must be unimportant to your admission to Harvard,”} Summers stated to Epstein in a 2017 communication. However made advances toward a few women 10 years ago and are unable to work at a network or think tank. KEEP CONFIDENTIAL THIS IDEA.”

Back then, Harvard University was grappling with an acceptance discussion after a formerly incarcerated woman’s enrollment to a PhD program. Summers, a one-time president of the university who stepped down amid a scandal after making discriminatory comments about women scholars, went on to say in the message to Epstein: I pointed out that half of the IQ in [the] world was possessed by women without mentioning they are more than 51 percent of society.”

Summers was previously a leading light in liberal circles – a one-time treasury secretary in the Clinton administration, one of the key designers of Barack Obama’s response to the financial crisis, and a stalwart figure in the liberal commentariat. But questions have lingered about his relationship with Epstein, a longtime connection of Donald Trump. Epstein was accused of a extensive child sex trafficking operation before his death in jail in 2019 in New York City.

Following publication of a earlier batch of emails between Epstein and Summers in a 2023 article, a agent for Summers commented that he “is very sorry for being in contact with Epstein after his legal finding”.

Democratic lawmakers disclosed emails from the Epstein estate this week that indicate Epstein thought Trump was had knowledge of conduct by the now-convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell. In retaliation, Republican lawmakers released a larger collection of 20,000 emails from the Epstein estate.

These records show that Summers kept up congenial contact with the found guilty child sex trafficker well into 2019, with the final email exchange taking place only months before Epstein’s apprehension.

Trump wrote on Truth Social on Friday that he would be asking the Department of Justice and the FBI to look into Epstein’s “participation and association” with Summers, among other well-known Democrats and business leaders.

In the emails, Summers and Epstein discuss politics – notably Summers’s disdain for Trump – as well as the details of non-profit social networking – and women. Summers, 70, confided in Epstein in a 2019 exchange about his overtures toward an unidentified woman, and being turned down.

“shes smart. making you pay for past errors,” Epstein replied 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 reiterated his regret in a recent statement. “I have great regrets 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 contributed more than $9m to Harvard and its associated programs between 1998 and 2008, and was named a visiting fellow to perform research. The university later found Epstein “was missing the academic qualifications visiting fellows typically possess and his application outlined a course of study Epstein was ill-equipped to pursue”.

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

At that point Obama’s career was advancing. Summers would ultimately secure appointment as director of the White House economic advisory body from January 2009 until November 2010.

After Summers exited 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 charitable contributions to projects associated with Summers’s wife, and the two men saw each other a twelve times between 2013 and 2016, often for dinner.

After news about Epstein’s donations emerged, New’s charity made a donation “above and beyond” of that received to anti-sex-trafficking organizations.