Disclosed Communications Show Jeffrey Epstein and Larry Summers as Close Associates

Numerous messages between convicted offender Jeffrey Epstein and former US treasury head Larry Summers have emerged this week, indicating the pair served as trusted allies.

Their correspondence, covering 2013 to early 2019, show the two men discussing private – and at times improper – views on political matters and relationships.

I'm struggling to figure why [the] American elite believe if u kill your baby by beating and neglect it must be irrelevant to your entry to Harvard,”|“I’m trying to|I am attempting to|I'm struggling to} understand why [the] American elite think if u murder your baby by violence and neglect it must be unimportant to your admission to Harvard,”} Summers wrote to Epstein in a 2017 communication. “But flirted with a few women 10 years ago and cannot work at a network or think tank. DO NOT REPEAT THIS INSIGHT.”

Back then, Harvard University was wrestling with an acceptance controversy after a formerly incarcerated woman’s acceptance to a PhD program. Summers, a ex- president of the university who stepped down amid a scandal after making discriminatory comments about women scholars, added in the correspondence to Epstein: I noted that half of the IQ in [the] world was owned by women without noting they are more than 51 percent of society.”

Summers was at one time a key player in liberal circles – a one-time treasury secretary in the Clinton administration, one of the key designers of Barack Obama’s response to the financial crisis, and a stalwart presence in the progressive media. But concerns have remained about his relationship with Epstein, a longtime contact of Donald Trump. Epstein was accused of a extensive child sex trafficking operation before his demise in custody in 2019 in New York City.

Following disclosure of a previous batch of emails between Epstein and Summers in a 2023 article, a agent 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 suggest Epstein was of the opinion Trump was knew about conduct by the now-convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell. In response, GOP lawmakers published a larger 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 happening only months before Epstein’s arrest.

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

In the emails, Summers and Epstein converse on politics – particularly Summers’s contempt for Trump – as well as the aspects of charitable social networking – and women. Summers, 70, confided in Epstein in a 2019 exchange about his overtures toward an anonymous woman, and being rebuffed.

“she's intelligent. holding you accountable for past mistakes,” Epstein wrote 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 sorrow 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 donated more than $9m to Harvard and its associated programs between 1998 and 2008, and was appointed a visiting fellow to conduct research. The university later found Epstein “lacked the educational background visiting fellows normally possess and his application proposed 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.

By then Obama’s star was rising. Summers would later receive appointment as director of the White House economic advisory body 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 working on a poetry project. Epstein and his foundations made philanthropic donations to projects associated with 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 emerged, New’s charity made a donation “in excess” of that received to combatting sex trafficking organizations.