WarRoom host and former Trump White House Chief Strategist Steve Bannon is pushing back after newly released Jeffrey Epstein chat logs revealed extensive text exchanges between him and the disgraced financier in the months leading up to Epstein’s 2019 arrest and death.
Bannon addressed the controversy directly, insisting his communications with Epstein were strictly related to a documentary project years in the making, and nothing more.
The controversy erupted after the Justice Department’s massive document release, which revealed millions of pages of Epstein-related materials. In those files, Bannon’s name appears frequently during the first half of 2019.
The text messages show Bannon advising Epstein on legal strategy, media positioning, and crisis communications, including suggestions on which lawyers to hire and how to handle press scrutiny as federal prosecutors began reexamining Epstein’s 2008 sweetheart plea deal.
Bannon confirmed that his communications with Jeffrey Epstein were conducted strictly in the capacity of a documentary filmmaker seeking extensive on-the-record interviews with a notoriously reclusive and controversial subject.
“I am a filmmaker and TV host with decades of experience interviewing controversial figures,” Bannon told The New York Times.
“That’s the only lens through which these private communications should be viewed, a documentary filmmaker working, over a period of time, to secure 50 hours of interviews from a reclusive subject.”
Bannon’s team confirmed that while Epstein tried to ply Bannon with offers of private jets and concierge doctors, the America First stalwart never took the bait.
A spokesman confirmed Bannon never flew on the “Lolita Express,” never saw Epstein’s doctors, and never stayed overnight at Epstein’s residences, despite Epstein’s repeated attempts to buy influence.
Compare this to the actual friends of Epstein in the Democrat party and the establishment GOP who spent vacations on his island.
According to the New York Times:
A spokesman for Mr. Bannon said his client sought only to ingratiate himself with Mr. Epstein for the documentary. But written communications during the year and a half before Mr. Epstein’s death in custody in August 2019 suggest that far from wary, Mr. Epstein was eager to cater to Mr. Bannon’s wishes and needs.
He shipped Mr. Bannon and his son Apple watches. He offered Mr. Bannon his private jet to fly around Europe, joking: “How does it feel to have the most highly paid travel agent in history?”
He proposed that Mr. Bannon get a full medical work-up in Mr. Epstein’s “private area” at a high-end concierge emergency clinic, telling him that “your medical expenses from a to z have been covered by me.” Mr. Bannon’s spokesman said he never saw Mr. Epstein’s doctor, nor did he fly on his private jet.
[…]
Mr. Epstein first tried to meet with Mr. Bannon in November 2016, after Mr. Trump won the presidency, the documents suggest. But Mr. Bannon, a top campaign strategist for Mr. Trump and later a senior White House official, agreed only after the president had fired him in August 2017.
[…]
Mr. Bannon’s spokesman said he conducted about 12 hours of interviews with Mr. Epstein for the documentary. But for reasons that remain unclear, the newly released files contain only two hours of interviews.
[…]
Later, Mr. Epstein wanted a legal agreement, known as a Kovel, apparently designed to extend attorney-client privilege to his communications with Mr. Bannon, who is not a lawyer. Mr. Bannon wrote back: “we need a deal for the entire ‘training.’”
Mr. Bannon’s spokesman said Mr. Bannon never signed the agreement and voluntarily shared his footage with federal prosecutors after Mr. Epstein’s death in a jail cell, ruled to be a suicide.
According to Bannon, the forthcoming film is slated for release later in 2026 and aims to dismantle what he described as the “myths” Epstein carefully constructed during his lifetime to obscure the scope and nature of his crimes.
“We’re gonna release the film, the five-part series, next year, early next year,” Bannon said earlier this month, according to The National Pulse.
“And by the way, the entire thing is how the elites and the intelligence services are inextricably linked… You’re gonna have to name names and you’re gonna have to understand how the elites in the world, but also the intelligence services, are inextricably linked in Epstein’s story,” he said, adding, “That’s the key.”
Steve Bannon filmed hours of interviews with Epstein for an unreleased documentary, ‘The Monsters: Jeffrey Epstein’s Life Among the Global Elite.’ He now plans to release it in early 2026, saying it’s about “how the elites and the intelligence services are inextricably linked.” pic.twitter.com/3L7keFiduY
— Jack Montgomery (@JackBMontgomery) July 21, 2025
