Messages Highlight Jeffrey Epstein and former Trump strategist Relationship
In November 2018, Steve Bannon, previously a top aide to Donald Trump, was in the UK preparing for a speech at the Oxford Union.
The speech was interrupted by numerous protesters, and Bannon, scheduled to travel that evening, informed Jeffrey Epstein in an message: "Activists delayed my talk don't think I can make the flight we r enroute to heathrow".
Epstein responded: "That. Is a Gulf Air that leaves at 9:50 with a stop in Bahrain". Bannon answered: "You are an excellent helper".
These exchanges were published on this week together with over 20,000 documents from the estate of Epstein, the deceased convicted sex offender.
The release by the Congressional committee includes an text conversation where Bannon's identity is withheld. Media outlets managed to establish his identity by cross-referencing the dates, events, and places referenced.
For example, Epstein talks about arranging a jet from Scotland for the redacted user in the messages, and offers praise their "address at Oxford". Bannon participated in the News Xchange conference on November 14, and delivered the speech at the Oxford two days later.
Bannon, who faces no allegations of any misconduct, declined to comment on the request for comment.
Epstein's Assurance to Bannon
Bannon served as the president's key advisers in the run up to the presidential election and in the early days of his presidency, but stepped down from the administration in August 2017.
He has admitted he was making a film about Epstein before his passing and reportedly has approximately 15 hours of recordings. In a recording of his podcast earlier this year, he stated: "We plan to release the series, the five-part series, next year - at the start of next year."
But the recently disclosed documents indicate Bannon's relationship with Epstein extended than being his biographer, with the convicted paedophile occasionally seeming to act like a personal assistant.
A few days before the conversation in which Epstein seemed to arranged a charter jet for Bannon, Epstein said: "what's it like to have the highest-paid booking agent in the world ".
Bannon thanked him: "U r quite capable assistant", to which Epstein responded "Massages. Excluded".
Discussing a visit to "AD" in a separate text, Epstein assured Bannon: "I'll make sure you are well looked after."
UK Politics Discussed in Messages
The released communications also show Bannon and Epstein discussing British political matters in that year.
Earlier on the day of his address at the Oxford, Bannon texted Epstein: "I became involved in the EU exit issue this day with Farage, Johnson and Rees Mogg."
Then, in what appears to be a allusion to the UK prime minister, the struggling UK prime minister at the period, he continued: "They are trying to move on. may today / tomorrow…"
Epstein suggested Bannon: "In my view staying as long as you can uk. Best-- so people see the commitment of your follow-up."
Shortly after, Epstein inquired: "Can Theresa May survive". Bannon replied: "I don't see how BUT the people over here have no balls" and added "Johnson ; Michael Gove; Jacob Rees-Mogg; David Davis - somebody has to step up".
Theresa May was eventually removed in May 2019 after withstanding multiple attempts of no confidence in December 2018.
A spokesman for Reform UK informed the BBC: "Farage has not been in a gathering with Bannon, Rees-Mogg and Johnson." And there is no evidence that encounter occurred.
The Congress will decide soon on whether the justice department should make public all its records related to its investigation into Epstein, who passed away in prison in 2019.
Attention in Epstein's relationships with powerful figures was reignited this week after the publication of more than 20,000 documents from his estate.
Some of those referenced the former president, who has consistently rejected any impropriety. The president was a friend of Epstein's for years, but claims they fell out in the early 2000s, a couple of years before Epstein was first arrested.