Revealed Emails Show Epstein and Summers as Close Associates

A series of communications between convicted sex criminal Jeffrey Epstein and ex- US Treasury Secretary Larry Summers have emerged this week, revealing the pair were close contacts.

These exchanges, covering 2013 to early 2019, show the two men discussing intimate – and at times improper – opinions on political matters and relationships.

I am attempting to determine why [the] American elite think if u take the life of your baby by violence and neglect it must be not a factor to your admission to Harvard,”|“I’m trying to|I am attempting to|I'm struggling to} figure why [the] American elite feel if u kill your baby by physical abuse and abandonment it must be not a factor to your entry to Harvard,”} Summers emailed to Epstein in a 2017 email. However flirted with a few women 10 years ago and cannot work at a network or think tank. DO NOT SHARE THIS IDEA.”

Back then, Harvard University was dealing with an admissions 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 uproar after making sexist comments about women in academia, went on to say in the message to Epstein: I pointed out that half of the IQ in [the] world was possessed by women without stating they are more than 51 percent of population.”

Summers was at one time a key player in Democratic 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 presence in the left-leaning punditry. But questions have remained about his connection with Epstein, a long-standing connection of Donald Trump. Epstein was alleged to have run a extensive exploitation operation before his passing in custody in 2019 in New York City.

Following publication of a previous set of emails between Epstein and Summers in a 2023 article, a spokesperson for Summers commented that he “profoundly regrets being in contact with Epstein after his guilty verdict”.

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

The released materials show that Summers maintained amicable contact with the found guilty child sex trafficker well into 2019, with the final email exchange occurring only months before Epstein’s detention.

Trump stated on Truth Social on Friday that he would be requesting the Department of Justice and the FBI to look into Epstein’s “participation and association” with Summers, among other influential Democratic figures and business leaders.

In the emails, Summers and Epstein converse on politics – particularly Summers’s dislike for Trump – as well as the particulars of non-profit social networking – and women. Summers, 70, disclosed to Epstein in a 2019 exchange about his overtures toward an anonymous woman, and being turned down.

“shes smart. making you pay for past errors,” Epstein replied 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. “I harbor significant regrets in my lifetime,” 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 donated more than $9m to Harvard and its associated programs between 1998 and 2008, and was appointed a visiting fellow to perform research. The university later concluded Epstein “lacked the educational background visiting fellows usually possess and his application outlined 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.

By that time Obama’s profile was growing. Summers would later secure appointment as director of the White House National Economic Council from January 2009 until November 2010.

After Summers exited the White House, he began soliciting 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 associated with Summers’s wife, and the two men got together a multiple 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 combatting sex trafficking organizations.