Uncovered Exchanges Illustrate Jeffrey Epstein and Larry Summers as Confidantes

A series of communications between adjudicated sex criminal Jeffrey Epstein and former US treasury head Larry Summers have emerged this week, showing the pair served as trusted allies.

The messages, dating from 2013 to early 2019, reveal the two men discussing intimate – and at times improper – perspectives on public affairs and personal connections.

“I’m trying to figure why [the] American elite believe if u take the life of your baby by violence and desertion it must be unimportant to your admission 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 physical abuse and neglect it must be not a factor to your acceptance to Harvard,”} Summers emailed to Epstein in a 2017 message. However made advances toward a few women 10 years ago and are unable to work at a network or think tank. DO NOT REPEAT THIS INSIGHT.”

Back then, Harvard University was dealing with an admissions controversy after a formerly incarcerated woman’s acceptance to a PhD program. Summers, a former president of the university who lost his position amid a scandal after making discriminatory comments about women scholars, went on to say in the email to Epstein: I pointed out that half of the IQ in [the] world was owned by women without stating they are more than 51 percent of the populace.”

Summers was previously a key player in liberal circles – a one-time treasury secretary in the Clinton administration, one of the key architects of Barack Obama’s response to the market collapse, and a committed voice in the left-leaning punditry. But concerns have remained about his connection with Epstein, a long-standing connection of Donald Trump. Epstein was charged with a extensive exploitation operation before his passing in custody in 2019 in New York City.

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

Democratic Party 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 reply, Republican lawmakers issued a larger batch of 20,000 emails from the Epstein estate.

The released materials show that Summers kept up amicable contact with the convicted child sex trafficker well into 2019, with the last email exchange happening only months before Epstein’s arrest.

Trump posted on Truth Social on Friday that he would be instructing the Department of Justice and the FBI to look into Epstein’s “participation and connection” with Summers, among other influential Democratic figures and corporate executives.

In the emails, Summers and Epstein talk about politics – notably Summers’s dislike for Trump – as well as the details of charitable social networking – and women. Summers, 70, confided in Epstein in a 2019 exchange about his advances toward an anonymous woman, and being turned down.

“shes smart. making you pay for past errors,” Epstein responded 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 commented. “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 donated more than $9m to Harvard and its affiliated programs between 1998 and 2008, and was appointed a visiting fellow to perform research. The university later concluded Epstein “lacked the scholarly credentials visiting fellows normally possess and his application proposed 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.

At that point Obama’s profile was growing. Summers would later secure 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 charitable 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 saw each other a dozen times between 2013 and 2016, often for dinner.

After reporting about Epstein’s donations surfaced, New’s charity made a donation “more than” of that received to anti-exploitation organizations.