Revealed Exchanges Show Jeffrey Epstein and Summers as Close Associates
A series of exchanges between found guilty sex criminal Jeffrey Epstein and ex- US finance chief Larry Summers came to light this week, indicating the pair were confidants.
The messages, dating from 2013 to early 2019, show the two men exchanging intimate – and at times questionable – views on political matters and interpersonal dynamics.
I'm struggling to determine why [the] American elite believe if u take the life of your baby by beating and desertion it must be unimportant to your admission to Harvard,”|“I’m trying to|I am attempting to|I'm struggling to} understand why [the] American elite think if u kill your baby by beating and abandonment it must be irrelevant to your acceptance to Harvard,”} Summers stated to Epstein in a 2017 email. Yet made advances toward a few women 10 years ago and cannot work at a network or think tank. DO NOT SHARE THIS IDEA.”
During that period, Harvard University was wrestling with an admissions controversy after a once incarcerated woman’s acceptance to a PhD program. Summers, a former president of the university who resigned amid a controversy after making sexist comments about women in academia, added in the correspondence 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 prominent figure in the Democratic Party circles – a one-time treasury secretary in the Clinton administration, one of the primary architects of Barack Obama’s approach to the economic downturn, and a steadfast figure in the left-leaning punditry. But doubts have lingered about his association with Epstein, a longtime contact of Donald Trump. Epstein was accused of a extensive exploitation operation before his death in prison in 2019 in New York City.
Following the release of a earlier batch of emails between Epstein and Summers in a 2023 report, a spokesperson for Summers commented that he “deeply regrets being in contact with Epstein after his guilty verdict”.
Democratic Party lawmakers released emails from the Epstein estate this week that imply Epstein believed Trump was knew about 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.
The documents show that Summers kept up friendly contact with the adjudicated child sex trafficker well into 2019, with the final email exchange taking place only months before Epstein’s apprehension.
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 connection” with Summers, among other influential Democrats and business leaders.
In the emails, Summers and Epstein converse on politics – especially Summers’s contempt for Trump – as well as the aspects of non-profit social networking – and women. Summers, 70, disclosed to Epstein in a 2019 exchange about his advances toward an unnamed 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 regret in a recent statement. “I harbor significant regrets in my lifetime,” 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 donated more than $9m to Harvard and its associated programs between 1998 and 2008, and was designated a visiting fellow to conduct research. The university later determined Epstein “did not have the scholarly credentials visiting fellows usually possess and his application proposed a course of study Epstein was ill-equipped to pursue”.
Harvard only discontinued accepting Epstein’s donations after he admitted guilt to child sex offenses in 2008.
By that time Obama’s career was advancing. Summers would later receive 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 developing a poetry project. Epstein and his foundations made philanthropic donations to projects connected to Summers’s wife, and the two men met a multiple times between 2013 and 2016, often for dinner.
After media coverage about Epstein’s donations surfaced, New’s charity made a donation “more than” of that received to anti-exploitation organizations.
