Revealed Exchanges Depict Epstein and Larry Summers as Confidantes

Numerous communications between found guilty child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and ex- US Treasury Secretary Larry Summers were released this week, indicating the pair acted as close contacts.

These exchanges, dating from 2013 to early 2019, show the two men discussing private – and at times improper – perspectives on political matters and interpersonal dynamics.

I'm struggling to figure why [the] American elite believe if u take the life of your baby by physical abuse and neglect it must be not a factor to your acceptance to Harvard,”|“I’m trying to|I am attempting to|I'm struggling to} understand why [the] American elite believe if u murder your baby by beating and abandonment it must be unimportant to your acceptance to Harvard,”} Summers wrote to Epstein in a 2017 communication. “But flirted with a few women 10 years ago and are unable to work at a network or think tank. DO NOT REPEAT THIS OBSERVATION.”

During that period, Harvard University was wrestling with an acceptance controversy after a once incarcerated woman’s admission to a PhD program. Summers, a former president of the university who resigned amid a uproar after making sexist comments about women scholars, went on to say in the email 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 the populace.”

Summers was once a key player in the Democratic Party circles – a one-time treasury secretary in the Clinton administration, one of the key engineers of Barack Obama’s handling to the economic downturn, and a steadfast voice in the left-leaning punditry. But questions have remained about his association with Epstein, a longtime connection of Donald Trump. Epstein was charged with a extensive child sex trafficking operation before his demise in jail in 2019 in New York City.

Following publication of a prior tranche of emails between Epstein and Summers in a 2023 article, a agent for Summers said that he “profoundly regrets being in contact with Epstein after his guilty verdict”.

Left-leaning lawmakers released emails from the Epstein estate this week that suggest Epstein was of the opinion Trump was knew about conduct by the now-convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell. In retaliation, Republican lawmakers released a larger tranche of 20,000 emails from the Epstein estate.

The released materials 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 apprehension.

Trump posted on Truth Social on Friday that he would be asking the Department of Justice and the FBI to look into Epstein’s “participation and relationship” with Summers, among other prominent Democratic figures and corporate executives.

In the emails, Summers and Epstein discuss politics – especially Summers’s contempt for Trump – as well as the details of non-profit social networking – and women. Summers, 70, shared with Epstein in a 2019 exchange about his overtures toward an anonymous woman, and being rejected.

“she is clever. ensuring you atone for previous missteps,” Epstein responded in an exchange on 16 March. “overlook the 'daddy' remark, I'm dating the motorcycle guy, you responded appropriately.. frustration signals affection., no protests revealed fortitude.”

Summers reiterated 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 gave more than $9m to Harvard and its affiliated programs between 1998 and 2008, and was appointed a visiting fellow to conduct research. The university later concluded Epstein “did not have the academic qualifications visiting fellows usually possess and his application outlined a course of study Epstein was ill-equipped to pursue”.

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

By then Obama’s career was advancing. Summers would later 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 soliciting Epstein for non-profit advice for his wife, Elisa New, a Harvard professor working on a poetry project. Epstein and his foundations made gifts to projects associated with Summers’s wife, and the two men met a dozen times between 2013 and 2016, often for dinner.

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