Disclosed Communications Show Jeffrey Epstein and Summers as Trusted Friends

A series of exchanges between adjudicated sex criminal Jeffrey Epstein and ex- US treasury head Larry Summers came to light this week, indicating the pair served as close contacts.

Their correspondence, covering 2013 to early 2019, reveal the two men exchanging intimate – and at times questionable – views on politics and relationships.

“I’m trying to determine why [the] American elite think if u kill your baby by violence and abandonment it must be not a factor to your entry to Harvard,”|“I’m trying to|I am attempting to|I'm struggling to} figure why [the] American elite believe if u take the life of your baby by violence and neglect it must be not a factor to your acceptance to Harvard,”} Summers wrote to Epstein in a 2017 communication. “But made advances toward a few women 10 years ago and can’t work at a network or think tank. DO NOT REPEAT THIS INSIGHT.”

At that time, Harvard University was wrestling with an enrollment controversy after a formerly incarcerated woman’s enrollment to a PhD program. Summers, a former president of the university who resigned amid a controversy after making gender-biased comments about women scholars, added in the correspondence to Epstein: I pointed out that half of the IQ in [the] world was possessed by women without noting they are more than 51 percent of population.”

Summers was once a leading light in liberal circles – a former treasury secretary in the Clinton administration, one of the main architects of Barack Obama’s handling to the market collapse, and a committed presence in the progressive media. But questions have remained about his connection with Epstein, a long-standing associate of Donald Trump. Epstein was accused of a extensive exploitation operation before his death in prison in 2019 in New York City.

Following the release of a prior set of emails between Epstein and Summers in a 2023 piece, a representative for Summers stated that he “is very sorry for being in contact with Epstein after his guilty verdict”.

Left-leaning lawmakers made public emails from the Epstein estate this week that imply Epstein thought Trump was knew about conduct by the now-convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell. In reply, Republican lawmakers released a larger collection of 20,000 emails from the Epstein estate.

The documents show that Summers continued congenial contact with the found guilty child sex trafficker well into 2019, with the final email exchange taking place only months before Epstein’s detention.

Trump posted 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 well-known Democrats and industry figures.

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

“she is clever. ensuring you atone for previous missteps,” 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 restated his remorse in a recent statement. “There are many things I regret 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 named a visiting fellow to conduct research. The university later determined Epstein “lacked the scholarly credentials visiting fellows normally 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 then Obama’s star was rising. Summers would ultimately secure appointment as director of the White House NEC 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 connected to 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 “in excess” of that received to combatting sex trafficking organizations.