Disclosed Communications Show Epstein and Summers as Close Associates
Numerous messages between adjudicated offender Jeffrey Epstein and ex- US finance chief Larry Summers were released this week, indicating the pair were close contacts.
The messages, covering 2013 to early 2019, demonstrate the two men discussing private – and at times unseemly – views on public affairs and personal connections.
I'm struggling to figure why [the] American elite think if u kill your baby by physical abuse and abandonment it must be irrelevant to your entry to Harvard,”|“I’m trying to|I am attempting to|I'm struggling to} figure why [the] American elite feel if u take the life of your baby by beating and desertion it must be not a factor to your entry to Harvard,”} Summers stated to Epstein in a 2017 message. Yet made advances toward a few women 10 years ago and are unable to work at a network or think tank. DO NOT SHARE THIS OBSERVATION.”
At that time, Harvard University was grappling with an admissions discussion after a previously incarcerated woman’s admission to a PhD program. Summers, a ex- president of the university who resigned amid a uproar after making gender-biased comments about women in academia, added in the message to Epstein: I noted that half of the IQ in [the] world was possessed by women without mentioning they are more than 51 percent of society.”
Summers was at one time a leading light in Democratic circles – a one-time treasury secretary in the Clinton administration, one of the main designers of Barack Obama’s approach to the market collapse, and a committed voice in the liberal commentariat. But doubts have persisted about his relationship with Epstein, a former contact of Donald Trump. Epstein was charged with a broad exploitation operation before his passing in jail in 2019 in New York City.
Following publication of a prior batch of emails between Epstein and Summers in a 2023 report, a representative for Summers commented that he “profoundly regrets being in contact with Epstein after his conviction”.
Democratic lawmakers disclosed 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 response, Conservative lawmakers released a more extensive batch of 20,000 emails from the Epstein estate.
The released materials show that Summers continued friendly contact with the adjudicated child sex trafficker well into 2019, with the final email exchange happening 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 “participation and association” with Summers, among other prominent liberal leaders and industry figures.
In the emails, Summers and Epstein discuss politics – particularly Summers’s contempt for Trump – as well as the aspects of non-profit social networking – and women. Summers, 70, disclosed to Epstein in a 2019 exchange about his overtures toward an unidentified 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 affirmed his remorse in a recent statement. “I have great regrets in my life,” he wrote. “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 contributed more than $9m to Harvard and its affiliated programs between 1998 and 2008, and was designated a visiting fellow to carry out research. The university later concluded Epstein “did not have the scholarly credentials visiting fellows usually possess and his application outlined a course of study Epstein was unqualified to pursue”.
Harvard only discontinued accepting Epstein’s donations after he confessed to child sex offenses in 2008.
By that time Obama’s career was advancing. Summers would ultimately receive appointment as director of the White House economic advisory body from January 2009 until November 2010.
After Summers left the White House, he began requesting Epstein for non-profit 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 saw each other 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 “above and beyond” of that received to anti-exploitation organizations.
