Revealed Exchanges Depict Epstein and Summers as Confidantes
Multiple exchanges between adjudicated child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and one-time US Treasury Secretary Larry Summers came to light this week, showing the pair served as confidants.
These exchanges, spanning 2013 to early 2019, show the two men discussing intimate – and at times improper – views on political matters and relationships.
I am attempting to understand why [the] American elite believe if u murder your baby by beating and desertion it must be irrelevant to your acceptance to Harvard,”|“I’m trying to|I am attempting to|I'm struggling to} determine why [the] American elite believe if u murder your baby by physical abuse and desertion it must be unimportant to your admission to Harvard,”} Summers stated to Epstein in a 2017 email. Yet made advances toward a few women 10 years ago and can’t work at a network or think tank. DO NOT REPEAT THIS IDEA.”
During that period, Harvard University was dealing with an admissions debate after a once incarcerated woman’s acceptance to a PhD program. Summers, a former president of the university who stepped down amid a scandal after making discriminatory comments about women scholars, went on to say in the email to Epstein: I noted that half of the IQ in [the] world was possessed by women without noting they are more than 51 percent of population.”
Summers was at one time a key player in Democratic circles – a one-time treasury secretary in the Clinton administration, one of the primary engineers of Barack Obama’s response to the market collapse, and a steadfast figure in the left-leaning punditry. But questions have remained about his relationship with Epstein, a longtime contact of Donald Trump. Epstein was alleged to have run a extensive exploitation operation before his passing in jail in 2019 in New York City.
Following the release of a prior set of emails between Epstein and Summers in a 2023 article, a spokesperson for Summers stated that he “is very sorry for being in contact with Epstein after his guilty verdict”.
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 retaliation, Republican lawmakers issued a more extensive batch of 20,000 emails from the Epstein estate.
The released materials show that Summers continued amicable contact with the adjudicated child sex trafficker well into 2019, with the final email exchange happening only months before Epstein’s detention.
Trump stated on Truth Social on Friday that he would be requesting the Department of Justice and the FBI to look into Epstein’s “role and relationship” with Summers, among other prominent liberal leaders and business leaders.
In the emails, Summers and Epstein talk about politics – notably Summers’s disdain for Trump – as well as the particulars of philanthropic social networking – and women. Summers, 70, shared with Epstein in a 2019 exchange about his advances toward an unidentified woman, and being rejected.
“she is clever. ensuring you atone for previous missteps,” 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 restated his regret in a recent statement. “I have great regrets in my life,” he said. “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 gave more than $9m to Harvard and its associated programs between 1998 and 2008, and was appointed a visiting fellow to conduct research. The university later found Epstein “did not have the academic qualifications visiting fellows normally possess and his application suggested a course of study Epstein was not prepared to pursue”.
Harvard only discontinued accepting Epstein’s donations after he confessed to child sex offenses in 2008.
By then Obama’s star was rising. Summers would later secure appointment as director of the White House National Economic Council from January 2009 until November 2010.
After Summers left the White House, he began requesting Epstein for non-profit advice for his wife, Elisa New, a Harvard professor pursuing a poetry project. Epstein and his foundations made gifts to projects connected to Summers’s wife, and the two men got together a twelve times between 2013 and 2016, often for dinner.
After reporting about Epstein’s donations emerged, New’s charity made a donation “more than” of that received to anti-exploitation organizations.
