Disclosed Emails Show Epstein and Larry Summers as Trusted Friends

Multiple communications between adjudicated sex criminal Jeffrey Epstein and one-time US finance chief Larry Summers came to light this week, revealing the pair were trusted allies.

The messages, covering 2013 to early 2019, demonstrate the two men exchanging private – and at times improper – views on public affairs and relationships.

“I’m trying to figure why [the] American elite think if u kill your baby by beating and neglect it must be irrelevant to your admission to Harvard,”|“I’m trying to|I am attempting to|I'm struggling to} determine why [the] American elite think if u murder your baby by beating and desertion it must be not a factor to your acceptance to Harvard,”} Summers stated to Epstein in a 2017 email. “But made advances toward a few women 10 years ago and cannot work at a network or think tank. DO NOT SHARE THIS IDEA.”

Back then, Harvard University was wrestling with an admissions controversy after a formerly incarcerated woman’s acceptance to a PhD program. Summers, a ex- president of the university who lost his position amid a controversy after making sexist comments about female academics, added in the message to Epstein: “I observed that half of the IQ in [the] world was possessed by women without mentioning they are more than 51 percent of population.”

Summers was previously a key player in Democratic circles – a ex- treasury secretary in the Clinton administration, one of the main architects of Barack Obama’s response to the market collapse, and a stalwart figure in the left-leaning punditry. But concerns have persisted about his association with Epstein, a longtime associate of Donald Trump. Epstein was charged with a extensive sex trafficking of minors operation before his passing in prison in 2019 in New York City.

Following disclosure of a prior tranche of emails between Epstein and Summers in a 2023 report, a spokesperson for Summers commented that he “profoundly regrets being in contact with Epstein after his legal finding”.

Democratic Party lawmakers disclosed emails from the Epstein estate this week that suggest Epstein was of the opinion Trump was aware of conduct by the now-convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell. In response, Republican lawmakers released a larger collection of 20,000 emails from the Epstein estate.

The documents show that Summers maintained congenial contact with the adjudicated child sex trafficker well into 2019, with the final email exchange happening only months before Epstein’s detention.

Trump wrote on Truth Social on Friday that he would be instructing the Department of Justice and the FBI to examine Epstein’s “involvement and association” with Summers, among other prominent Democratic figures and business leaders.

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

“she is clever. ensuring you atone for previous missteps,” Epstein replied in an exchange on 16 March. “ignore the daddy im going to go out with the motorcycle guy, you reacted well.. annoyed shows caring., no whining showed strentgh.”

Summers reiterated his sorrow in a recent statement. “I harbor significant regrets in my lifetime,” he commented. “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 donated 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 concluded Epstein “was missing the academic qualifications visiting fellows usually possess and his application suggested a course of study Epstein was ill-equipped to pursue”.

Harvard only ceased accepting Epstein’s donations after he admitted guilt to child sex offenses in 2008.

At that point Obama’s profile was growing. Summers would eventually receive 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 charitable advice for his wife, Elisa New, a Harvard professor pursuing a poetry project. Epstein and his foundations made philanthropic donations to projects connected to Summers’s wife, and the two men got together a twelve times between 2013 and 2016, often for dinner.

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