Disclosed Emails Depict Epstein and Larry Summers as Close Associates

A series of exchanges between convicted offender Jeffrey Epstein and one-time US finance chief Larry Summers came to light this week, revealing the pair acted as trusted allies.

The messages, spanning 2013 to early 2019, show the two men discussing intimate – and at times questionable – perspectives on politics and personal connections.

I am attempting to determine why [the] American elite believe if u kill your baby by physical abuse and abandonment it must be unimportant to your acceptance 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 physical abuse and desertion it must be unimportant to your admission to Harvard,”} Summers wrote to Epstein in a 2017 email. “But flirted with a few women 10 years ago and can’t work at a network or think tank. DO NOT REPEAT THIS OBSERVATION.”

At that time, Harvard University was dealing with an acceptance discussion after a once incarcerated woman’s enrollment to a PhD program. Summers, a former president of the university who lost his position amid a scandal after making sexist comments about women scholars, went on to say in the message to Epstein: I noted that half of the IQ in [the] world was owned by women without mentioning they are more than 51 percent of society.”

Summers was previously a prominent figure in Democratic circles – a one-time treasury secretary in the Clinton administration, one of the key engineers of Barack Obama’s approach to the financial crisis, and a committed figure in the liberal commentariat. But doubts have persisted about his association with Epstein, a longtime contact of Donald Trump. Epstein was charged with a broad sex trafficking of minors operation before his demise 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 said that he “is very sorry for being in contact with Epstein after his legal finding”.

Democratic 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 reply, Republican lawmakers released a more extensive tranche of 20,000 emails from the Epstein estate.

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

Trump stated on Truth Social on Friday that he would be instructing the Department of Justice and the FBI to examine Epstein’s “role and relationship” with Summers, among other prominent Democrats and corporate executives.

In the emails, Summers and Epstein talk about politics – notably Summers’s contempt for Trump – as well as the particulars of non-profit social networking – and women. Summers, 70, confided in Epstein in a 2019 exchange about his advances toward an unnamed woman, and being rebuffed.

“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 affirmed his regret in a recent statement. “I have great regrets in my life,” he said. “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 contributed more than $9m to Harvard and its related programs between 1998 and 2008, and was designated a visiting fellow to conduct research. The university later determined Epstein “was missing the scholarly credentials visiting fellows usually possess and his application suggested a course of study Epstein was not prepared to pursue”.

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

By then Obama’s profile was growing. Summers would ultimately receive appointment as director of the White House National Economic Council 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 gifts to projects connected to Summers’s wife, and the two men got together a dozen times between 2013 and 2016, often for dinner.

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