Correspondence Uncover the late financier and Steve Bannon Ties
In November 2018, Steve Bannon, formerly Donald Trump's chief strategist, was in the UK preparing for a address at the prestigious Oxford Union.
The event was disrupted by numerous demonstrators, and Bannon, who was due to board a flight that evening, informed Jeffrey Epstein in an email: "Activists delayed my talk I doubt I can make the flight we are heading to the airport".
Epstein responded: "That. Is a gulf air that leaves at 950 with a layover in Bahrain". Bannon answered: "U r an amazing assistant".
These exchanges were released on Wednesday together with over 20,000 documents from the records of Epstein, the late financier convicted of sex crimes.
The disclosure by the Congressional committee includes an text conversation where Bannon's name is redacted. Media outlets managed to establish his identity by cross-referencing the timeline, occurrences, and places referenced.
For example, Epstein discusses chartering a jet from the UK for the unnamed individual in the chat, and offers praise their "address at Oxford". Bannon participated in the News Xchange conference on 14 November, and delivered the speech at the Oxford on November 16.
Bannon, who is not accused of any wrongdoing, did not reply on the request for comment.
Epstein's Assurance to Bannon
Bannon served as Trump's closest aides in the run up to the 2016 election and in the early days of his presidency, but resigned from the administration in 2017.
He has acknowledged he was producing a documentary about Epstein prior to his passing and reportedly has approximately 15 hours of footage. In a live taping of his show recently, he said: "We plan to release the film, the multi-part documentary, in the coming year - early next year."
But the recently disclosed documents indicate Bannon's relationship with Epstein went further than being his biographer, with the disgraced financier at times seeming to act like a personal assistant.
A short time prior to the exchange in which Epstein seemed to arranged a private plane for Bannon, Epstein remarked: "how does it feel to have the highest-paid travel agent in history ".
Bannon thanked him: "You are quite capable asst", to which Epstein replied "Therapies. Excluded".
Discussing a visit to "AD" in a separate text, Epstein told Bannon: "I'll make sure you are taken care of."
UK Politics Mentioned in Messages
The published communications also show Bannon and Epstein discussing UK politics in 2018.
On the day of his address at the Oxford Union, Bannon messaged Epstein: "I've gotten pulled into the Brexit issue this day with Farage, Boris and Mogg."
Then, in what seems like a allusion to the UK prime minister, the embattled UK prime minister at the time, he added: "They are trying to move on. May today / tomorrow…"
Epstein suggested Bannon: "In my view staying as much as you can uk. Ideal- so others see the commitment of your follow through."
Shortly after, Epstein asked: "Will Theresa may survive". Bannon answered: "It seems unlikely however the people over here have little courage" and added "Boris ; Michael Gove; Rees Mogg; David Davis - somebody has to step up".
Theresa May was finally removed in 2019 after surviving two votes of lack of support in late 2018.
A spokesman for Reform UK informed media: "Farage has never been in a gathering with Bannon, Jacob Rees Mogg and Boris Johnson." And there is nothing to suggest that encounter took place.
The US House of Representatives will decide soon on whether the Department of Justice should make public all its files concerning its probe into Epstein, who died in jail in 2019.
Attention in Epstein's associations with influential individuals was renewed this week after the release of more than 20,000 documents from his archives.
Some of those referenced the former president, who has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing. The president was a acquaintance of Epstein's for a long time, but claims they fell out in the early 2000s, two years before Epstein was first arrested.