Revealed Exchanges Depict Jeffrey Epstein and Larry Summers as Close Associates

Numerous communications between convicted child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and ex- US treasury head Larry Summers came to light this week, indicating the pair served as confidants.

Their correspondence, spanning 2013 to early 2019, reveal the two men discussing private – and at times questionable – perspectives on political matters and interpersonal dynamics.

I'm struggling to figure why [the] American elite think if u kill your baby by violence and neglect it must be irrelevant to your admission to Harvard,”|“I’m trying to|I am attempting to|I'm struggling to} figure why [the] American elite think if u kill your baby by physical abuse and abandonment it must be unimportant to your admission to Harvard,”} Summers stated to Epstein in a 2017 email. However flirted with a few women 10 years ago and can’t work at a network or think tank. DO NOT SHARE THIS INSIGHT.”

At that time, Harvard University was dealing with an enrollment discussion after a once incarcerated woman’s admission to a PhD program. Summers, a former president of the university who lost his position amid a controversy after making sexist comments about female academics, went on to say in the message to Epstein: “I observed that half of the IQ in [the] world was held by women without noting they are more than 51 percent of the populace.”

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 approach to the economic downturn, and a stalwart presence in the left-leaning punditry. But questions have persisted about his relationship with Epstein, a longtime connection of Donald Trump. Epstein was alleged to have run a wide-ranging sex trafficking of minors operation before his death in jail in 2019 in New York City.

Following disclosure of a previous batch of emails between Epstein and Summers in a 2023 piece, a agent for Summers stated that he “deeply regrets being in contact with Epstein after his conviction”.

Democratic Party lawmakers released emails from the Epstein estate this week that suggest Epstein thought Trump was had knowledge of conduct by the now-convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell. In response, Conservative lawmakers published a more extensive 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 final email exchange occurring only months before Epstein’s detention.

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

In the emails, Summers and Epstein talk about politics – especially Summers’s dislike for Trump – as well as the details of philanthropic social networking – and women. Summers, 70, disclosed to Epstein in a 2019 exchange about his overtures toward an anonymous woman, and being rejected.

“shes smart. making you pay for past errors,” 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 reiterated his regret in a recent statement. “I have great regrets in my life,” he commented. “As previously stated, my connection to Jeffrey Epstein represented a serious lapse in judgment.”

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 designated a visiting fellow to conduct research. The university later concluded Epstein “was missing the scholarly credentials visiting fellows usually possess and his application proposed a course of study Epstein was ill-equipped to pursue”.

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

At that point Obama’s profile was growing. Summers would ultimately secure appointment as director of the White House economic advisory body from January 2009 until November 2010.

After Summers exited the White House, he began soliciting Epstein for charitable advice for his wife, Elisa New, a Harvard professor working on a poetry project. Epstein and his foundations made philanthropic donations to projects connected to Summers’s wife, and the two men saw each other a dozen times between 2013 and 2016, often for dinner.

After reporting about Epstein’s donations surfaced, New’s charity made a donation “above and beyond” of that received to combatting sex trafficking organizations.