Uncovered Communications Show Jeffrey Epstein and Larry Summers as Trusted Friends

A series of messages between adjudicated child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and one-time US finance chief Larry Summers came to light this week, indicating the pair acted as trusted allies.

Their correspondence, spanning 2013 to early 2019, show the two men exchanging personal – and at times improper – opinions on public affairs and interpersonal dynamics.

I'm struggling to figure why [the] American elite feel if u kill your baby by violence and abandonment 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 believe if u kill your baby by violence and desertion it must be irrelevant to your acceptance to Harvard,”} Summers wrote to Epstein in a 2017 message. “But made advances toward a few women 10 years ago and can’t work at a network or think tank. KEEP CONFIDENTIAL THIS IDEA.”

During that period, Harvard University was dealing with an admissions debate after a formerly incarcerated woman’s acceptance to a PhD program. Summers, a former president of the university who stepped down amid a controversy after making sexist comments about women in academia, went on to say in the correspondence 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 population.”

Summers was once a prominent figure in Democratic circles – a former treasury secretary in the Clinton administration, one of the key designers of Barack Obama’s approach to the economic downturn, and a stalwart presence in the progressive media. But questions have remained about his relationship with Epstein, a long-standing connection of Donald Trump. Epstein was charged with a broad exploitation operation before his demise in prison in 2019 in New York City.

Following the release of a previous batch of emails between Epstein and Summers in a 2023 report, a representative for Summers said that he “deeply regrets being in contact with Epstein after his legal finding”.

Democratic lawmakers disclosed emails from the Epstein estate this week that imply Epstein believed Trump was had knowledge of conduct by the now-convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell. In retaliation, GOP lawmakers published a much bigger batch of 20,000 emails from the Epstein estate.

The released materials show that Summers continued congenial contact with the adjudicated child sex trafficker well into 2019, with the last email exchange taking place only months before Epstein’s apprehension.

Trump stated on Truth Social on Friday that he would be asking the Department of Justice and the FBI to look into Epstein’s “involvement and relationship” with Summers, among other prominent Democrats and business leaders.

In the emails, Summers and Epstein converse on politics – especially Summers’s dislike for Trump – as well as the details of charitable social networking – and women. Summers, 70, shared with Epstein in a 2019 exchange about his advances toward an unnamed woman, and being turned down.

“she's intelligent. holding you accountable for past mistakes,” 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 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 donated more than $9m to Harvard and its affiliated programs between 1998 and 2008, and was named a visiting fellow to conduct research. The university later found Epstein “did not have the educational background visiting fellows normally possess and his application suggested a course of study Epstein was not prepared 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 NEC from January 2009 until November 2010.

After Summers exited the White House, he began asking Epstein for philanthropic advice for his wife, Elisa New, a Harvard professor pursuing a poetry project. Epstein and his foundations made charitable contributions to projects associated with Summers’s wife, and the two men met a twelve times between 2013 and 2016, often for dinner.

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