Emails Highlight the late financier and Steve Bannon Relationship
In late 2018, Steve Bannon, previously Donald Trump's chief strategist, visited the UK to deliver a speech at the Oxford Union.
The speech was disrupted by hundreds of demonstrators, and Bannon, scheduled to travel that night, informed Jeffrey Epstein in an email: "Activists slowed down my talk don't think I can catch the flight we are heading to the airport".
Epstein replied: "There. Is a Gulf Air departing at 950 with a layover in Bahrain". Bannon replied: "U r an excellent assistant".
These messages were released on this week alongside over 20,000 pages from the estate of Epstein, the late financier convicted of sex crimes.
The disclosure by the House oversight committee includes an text conversation where Bannon's identity is withheld. Media outlets managed to confirm his involvement by matching the timeline, events, and locations referenced.
For instance, Epstein discusses chartering a jet from Scotland for the unnamed individual in the messages, and commends their "address at Oxford". Bannon took part in the News Xchange conference on November 14, and delivered the speech at the Oxford on November 16.
Bannon, who faces no allegations of any wrongdoing, declined to comment on the request for comment.
Epstein's Assurance to Bannon
Bannon was one of the president's key aides in the run up to the 2016 election and during the initial phase of his presidency, but resigned from the White House in August 2017.
He has acknowledged he was producing a film about Epstein before his death and allegedly has approximately 15 hours of footage. In a live taping of his show recently, he stated: "We're going to release the film, the multi-part documentary, next year - at the start of next year."
But the recently disclosed materials indicate Bannon's relationship with Epstein extended than documenting his life, with the disgraced financier occasionally seeming to act like a personal assistant.
A short time before the exchange in which Epstein seemed to booked a private plane for Bannon, Epstein said: "what's it like to have the highest-paid booking agent in the world ".
Bannon expressed gratitude: "You are pretty good asst", to which Epstein replied "Therapies. Excluded".
Discussing a trip to "AD" in a separate text, Epstein assured Bannon: "I will ensure you are well looked after."
UK Politics Discussed in Exchanges
The published communications also show Bannon and Epstein talking about British political matters in 2018.
On the same day his speech at the Oxford Union, Bannon messaged Epstein: "I became involved in the Brexit thing this morning with Farage, Boris and Rees Mogg."
Then, in what appears to be a reference to the UK prime minister, the embattled British leader at the period, he continued: "They are trying to proceed. May today / tomorrow…"
Epstein advised Bannon: "In my view staying as much as you can in the UK. Best-- so people see the dedication of your follow-up."
Soon after, Epstein asked: "Will Theresa may survive". Bannon replied: "It seems unlikely however the people here have little courage" and noted "Johnson ; Gove; Rees Mogg; Davis - somebody has to take charge".
Theresa May was eventually toppled in 2019 after withstanding multiple attempts of no confidence in late 2018.
A representative for the political party told the BBC: "Nigel Farage has not been in a meeting with Bannon, Rees-Mogg and Boris Johnson." And there is nothing to suggest that encounter occurred.
The US House of Representatives will decide soon on whether the justice department should make public all its records related to its probe into Epstein, who passed away in jail in that year.
Attention in Epstein's associations with powerful figures was renewed recently after the release of more than 20,000 documents from his estate.
Some of those mentioned the former president, who has consistently denied any wrongdoing. The president was a friend of Epstein's for a long time, but says they fell out in the early 2000s, a couple of years before Epstein was initially charged.