Disclosed Emails Illustrate Epstein and Larry Summers as Confidantes

Numerous messages between found guilty child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and ex- US treasury head Larry Summers were released this week, indicating the pair were trusted allies.

Their correspondence, spanning 2013 to early 2019, show the two men sharing intimate – and at times improper – views on politics and personal connections.

I'm struggling to figure why [the] American elite think if u kill your baby by violence and desertion it must be unimportant to your entry to Harvard,”|“I’m trying to|I am attempting to|I'm struggling to} determine why [the] American elite think if u kill your baby by violence and desertion it must be unimportant to your entry to Harvard,”} Summers emailed to Epstein in a 2017 email. However hit on 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 grappling with an enrollment discussion after a previously incarcerated woman’s admission to a PhD program. Summers, a ex- president of the university who resigned amid a controversy after making gender-biased 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 population.”

Summers was previously a leading light in liberal circles – a one-time treasury secretary in the Clinton administration, one of the primary architects of Barack Obama’s approach to the financial crisis, and a steadfast presence in the left-leaning punditry. But doubts have persisted about his association with Epstein, a longtime connection of Donald Trump. Epstein was alleged to have run a broad sex trafficking of minors operation before his passing in jail in 2019 in New York City.

Following publication of a previous batch of emails between Epstein and Summers in a 2023 piece, a spokesperson for Summers said that he “profoundly regrets being in contact with Epstein after his conviction”.

Democratic lawmakers made public emails from the Epstein estate this week that indicate Epstein thought Trump was knew about conduct by the now-convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell. In reply, GOP lawmakers issued a more extensive tranche of 20,000 emails from the Epstein estate.

The released materials show that Summers kept up amicable contact with the adjudicated child sex trafficker well into 2019, with the last email exchange occurring 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 investigate Epstein’s “participation and association” with Summers, among other influential Democratic figures and industry figures.

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

“she's intelligent. holding you accountable for past mistakes,” Epstein responded 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. “There are many things I regret in my life,” he commented. “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 gave more than $9m to Harvard and its related programs between 1998 and 2008, and was named a visiting fellow to perform research. The university later concluded Epstein “lacked the scholarly credentials visiting fellows typically 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 career was advancing. Summers would eventually secure appointment as director of the White House National Economic Council from January 2009 until November 2010.

After Summers departed 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 philanthropic donations to projects linked 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 “in excess” of that received to anti-exploitation organizations.