Self-styled MAGA leader Steve Bannon says he is running for President in 2028. The podcast host who rarely bathes, says he has no illusions about winning the 2028 Republican nomination, but will put forward his candidacy in order to “shape the narrative and set the agenda for the GOP.” Bannon’s candidacy is far more likely to expose his own personal record of criminality betrayal and his active enabling of pedophilia.
Bannon pleaded guilty in New York State for defrauding small contributors out of almost $15 million contributed to the “Build the Wall Foundation.” In other words, Bannon is a convicted thief. Bannon was also named as an unindicted co-conspirator in the conviction of Chinese Fraudster Miles Guo, who was convicted of multiple counts including racketeering conspiracy, securities fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering.
But it is Bannon’s role as an enabler of child sex trafficker and pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, fully exposed in the release of both emails and photos by the US House Oversight Committee, that is most shocking. After Epstein’s convictions of sex crime in Florida and before Epstein’s 2019 Indictment for child sex trafficking, Bannon was actively coaching Epstein on how to rehabilitate his public image and evade responsibility for his horrific crimes. You can be certain that Bannon will be confronted with these questions on a daily basis during his absurd vanity campaign for president.
Few alliances expose the raw hypocrisy of elite power networks quite like the one between Jeffrey Epstein, the convicted sex offender who orchestrated a global sex trafficking network, and Steve Bannon, the disheveled populist ousted from President Donald J. Trump’s White House in August 2017.
At the helm of Breitbart News, and through his War Room podcast, Bannon has spent years denouncing depraved “corrupt elites,” positioning himself as their sworn enemy. Yet, shortly after his White House exit, he somehow managed to forge a close relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, the prime exemplar of the depraved elite he claimed to despise.
Their partnership was no casual acquaintance; it was deeply transactional, blending political ambition, media strategy, and self-preservation. All of this was exposed under the Epstein Files Transparency Act (H.R. 4405, signed by President Trump on November 19, 2025), when thousands of pages of emails, texts, and photos released in late 2025 became public.
This unlikely pair laid bare how pathetic both men had become: Epstein reduced to begging a political has-been for image help, and Bannon stooping to cozy up to a notorious sex offender just to remain relevant.
The connection formed in mid-2018, after Bannon’s August 18 departure from the Trump administration. As he pivoted to launching his global “Movement”—a Brussels-based effort to promote populist causes and forge alliances with European far-right figures—Bannon leaned heavily on Epstein for support.
It was during this period that he most conspicuously used Epstein’s resources as the convicted sex offender provided logistical fixes (such as arranging alternative flights when protests disrupted Bannon’s 2018 UK visit). Epstein provided concrete support. He acted as fixer, suggesting alternative flights and earning Bannon’s praise (“U r an amazing assistant”) followed by (“Massages. Not Included”) followed by a revolting exchange of humor referencing Epstein’s notorious “massages”—the euphemism at the heart of his predatory empire.
Despite Bannon’s repeated claims that he “never media-trained anyone” and was instead merely gathering material on Epstein, reports and transcripts indicate he actively coached the convicted sex trafficker on media strategy—preparing him for a potential “60 Minutes”-style interview and public redemption effort following Julie K. Brown’s groundbreaking Miami Herald series, “Perversion of Justice.”
Published as a three-part exposé starting November 28, 2018, the investigation reignited national outrage over Epstein’s crimes and his scandalously lenient 2008 plea deal. As scrutiny mounted in early 2019, texts show Bannon directly advising Epstein against aggressive public responses. When Epstein asked about countering criticism (e.g., via op-eds or direct outreach after a senator called him a “child rapist”), Bannon replied: “I think makes it way worse.”
He similarly cautioned silence on DOJ reviews, framing media attacks as a “sophisticated op” to avoid amplifying them. All the while, the two men exchanged near-constant texts on politics, travel planning, and tactics into mid-2019—as if Epstein could simply charm or argue his way out of the inexorable consequences bearing down on him.
In 2018, Epstein positioned himself as Bannon’s advisor during the latter’s European efforts. Emails reveal Epstein urging extended in-person commitments (“Europe by remote doesn’t work.”)
For a planned Abu Dhabi trip, Epstein promised, “I’ll make sure you’re well looked after,” implying high-level arrangements. He repeatedly offered leader introductions and strategic advice on Brexit and UK politics.
Photos from Epstein’s estate, released in December 2025 in batches by Democrats on the House Oversight Committee (in coordination with the Department of Justice), vividly capture their interactions: images showing the pair seated across a desk, a mirror selfie apparently taken by Epstein, and Bannon in social settings with Epstein and figures like Woody Allen.
Evidence suggests their introduction came through mutual Manhattan elite contacts, with Bannon becoming a frequent visitor to Epstein’s nine-story Upper East Side townhouse, often arriving discreetly to avoid paparazzi.
Bannon didn’t help Epstein out of the goodness of his heart. After the devastating 2018 Miami Herald series reignited scrutiny of Epstein’s crimes and lenient 2008 plea deal, the notorious pedophile desperately needed someone to rehabilitate his image. Bannon’s lingering MAGA influence, War Room platform, and media savvy made him the ideal partner for that reputation laundering effort, a textbook quid pro quo—evidenced by Bannon’s hands-on guidance.
For instance, when discussing potential interviews, Bannon stressed production quality to control the narrative: “If you do an interview it can’t be like ‘Johnnie does a utube’ – has to be amazingly professional and perfectly cut.”
Epstein replied: “woody said he would help edit. not sure how to stage, what points to make. but better than trying to do an interview that i have no experience doing. goal to himanize the monster. anything written carries iittle weight.”
Bannon profited handsomely from his relationship with Epstein as his resources directly bolstered his European populist efforts by supplying logistics and elite connections, while the anti-elite warrior provided crisis PR and political muscle, abandoning principles for what both viewed as mutual survival and ruthless ambition.
As Jeffrey Epstein deepened his ties with Steve Bannon, he reached out to another long-time contact, Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, the prominent Emirati businessman and chairman/CEO of DP World, in an email from 2018, where he appears to forward a photo, and is praising his new friendship with the former Trump strategist and writing, “We have become friends you will like him,” in an apparent bid to facilitate an introduction.
Jeffrey Epstein maintained a long-standing professional and personal relationship with bin Sulayem, exchanging dozens, if not hundreds, of emails over more than a decade from at least 2007 through 2018. Their correspondence covered business deals, political introductions, shared news articles, travel planning arrangements, and personal favors, persisting well after Epstein’s 2008 conviction for soliciting a minor.
Notable exchanges include a 2011 email in which bin Sulayem forwarded details about GTX “smart shoes”—children’s sneakers embedded with GPS tracking devices marketed for monitoring kids or elderly individuals, with Epstein replying, “thanks, great idea.”
On May 23, 2019, the day Narendra Modi won re-election, Bannon texted Epstein about a War Room segment on the victory. Epstein seized the moment, enthusiastically pushing for a personal introduction “you should meet with Modi.” Bannon replied “please.” Epstein later claimed “Modi on board,” framing it around U.S.-India anti-China alignment. No evidence indicates the meeting occurred.
In spring 2019, Steve Bannon filmed approximately 15 hours of footage with Jeffrey Epstein at the latter’s Manhattan townhouse. According to journalist Michael Wolff—who attended the first session and reviewed transcripts—these were mock interviews or media coaching sessions (with publicist Peggy Siegal also involved in related PR efforts), as detailed in his 2021 book Too Famous: The Rich, the Powerful, the Wishful, the Notorious, the Damned.
As quoted in the book, during one session Bannon gave Epstein direct on-camera feedback intended to make him appear less threatening: “You’re engaging, you’re not threatening, you’re natural, you’re friendly, you don’t look at all creepy, you’re a sympathetic figure.” He also advised Epstein to look directly into the camera to avoid appearing evasive and to stick firmly to the core message that he was “not a paedophile.”
The intent behind the filming sessions centered on preparing Epstein for a potential high-profile primetime interview—most notably with 60 Minutes, though it never materialized—amid efforts to counter the damaging fallout from Julie K. Brown’s 2018 Miami Herald series and other emerging scrutiny. Filming continued until shortly before Epstein’s July 6, 2019, arrest on federal sex-trafficking charges, with at least one further session planned but canceled.
Separately, in Michael Wolff’s earlier book Siege: Trump Under Fire (2019), Steve Bannon is quoted as predicting that financial investigations would expose Donald Trump’s exaggerated wealth and lead to his downfall, portraying him as a “crooked business guy”: “This is where it isn’t a witch hunt—even for the hard core, this is where he turns into just a crooked business guy, and one worth $50m instead of $10bn. Not the billionaire he said he was, just another scumbag.”
Wolff also describes the Trump Organization through a lens of criminality, building on earlier concerns about money laundering: “Trump was vulnerable because for 40 years he had run what increasingly seemed to resemble a semi-criminal enterprise.” Bannon is then quoted responding: “I think we can drop the ‘semi’ part.”
In the final hours before his July 6, 2019 arrest on federal sex-trafficking charges, Jeffrey Epstein was still deeply engaged in an intimate, collaborative text exchange with Steve Bannon.
Early that morning, Epstein excitedly shared plans for the two of them to drive together the following Monday to Cold Spring Harbor, New York, for lunch with pioneering scientist James Watson at his home, even extending an open invitation for Bannon to join.
Later that afternoon, the conversation turned to future filming, with Bannon asking, “If we can arrange it can we film on the island?” (referring to Little St. James, Epstein’s infamous private island). Epstein immediately replied “Yes,” and Bannon responded “Perfect.”
Their months-long iMessage thread stayed warm and enthusiastic, brimming with logistical coordination of travel, filming, and meetings—right up until, in a chilling twist just hours before federal agents arrested Epstein upon landing at Teterboro Airport after his flight from Paris, the plans abruptly collapsed.
Epstein texted “All canceled.” Bannon fired back with a terse question: “You r not coming in?”—marking the sudden, final end of a partnership shattered forever by the handcuffs waiting on the tarmac.
Although the iMessage thread omits explicit display of the parties’ names, forensic review and contextual analysis—including metadata ties, timing correlations, and topical references—confirm the conversation involving Steve Bannon and Jeffrey Epstein.
In the end, the soiled alliance between Jeffrey Epstein and Steve Bannon reeked of sheer opportunism masquerading as principle, a convicted sex trafficker desperately clutching at political relevance through a fallen MAGA strategist, and a poorly-styled crusader against “corrupt elites” eagerly consorting with one of the most infamous predators of the modern era.
Their partnership, forged in a pathetic clutch at self-preservation, abruptly severed only by federal handcuffs on July 6, 2019—revealed not just personal hypocrisy but the hollow core of the empty theatrics behind Bannon’s anti-elite crusade.
As January 2026 dawns, with the Epstein files now fully public and pressure mounting from all sides, Steve Bannon continues to withhold the roughly 15 hours of 2019 footage he filmed with the convicted child predator. Six years of silence is more than enough. Whatever uncomfortable truths or ugly secrets those tapes hold, about Epstein’s attempted rehabilitation, Bannon’s complicity, or the broader rot within elite circles—the American public has waited long enough to see them, unedited and in full. Release the unedited tapes now.
