Emails Reveal the late financier and Steve Bannon Connection
In November 2018, Steve Bannon, previously a top aide to Donald Trump, visited the UK to deliver a address at the Oxford Union.
The speech was interrupted by numerous demonstrators, and Bannon, who was due to travel that evening, informed Jeffrey Epstein in an message: "Activists delayed speech I doubt I can catch the flight we are heading to the airport".
Epstein replied: "That. Is a Gulf Air that leaves at 950 with a layover in Bahrain". Bannon answered: "You are an excellent assistant".
These exchanges were published on Wednesday together with over 20,000 documents from the records of Epstein, the late convicted sex offender.
The disclosure by the Congressional committee contains an text conversation where Bannon's identity is withheld. Media outlets managed to establish his involvement by cross-referencing the timeline, events, and places mentioned.
For instance, Epstein discusses chartering a plane from the UK for the unnamed individual in the chat, and commends their "address at Oxford". Bannon participated in the Edinburgh conference on 14 November, and delivered the talk at the Oxford Union two days later.
Bannon, who faces no allegations of any misconduct, declined to comment on the inquiry.
'I'll make sure you're well looked after'
Bannon was one of Trump's key aides in the lead-up to the presidential election and during the initial phase of his first administration, but resigned from the administration in 2017.
He has acknowledged he was making a film about Epstein before his passing and reportedly has around 15 hours of footage. In a live taping of his show earlier this year, he said: "We're going to publish the series, the five-part series, next year - at the start of next year."
But the newly released materials suggest Bannon's connection with Epstein extended than being his biographer, with the convicted paedophile occasionally seeming to act like a aide.
A short time prior to the conversation in which Epstein seemed to booked a private plane for Bannon, Epstein remarked: "what's it like to have the most highly paid travel agent in the world ".
Bannon thanked him: "U r quite capable asst", to which Epstein replied "Massages. Excluded".
Discussing a trip to "AD" in a separate text, Epstein assured Bannon: "I will ensure you are taken care of."
UK Politics Discussed in Messages
The released communications also reveal Bannon and Epstein discussing UK politics in that year.
Earlier on the day of his address at the Oxford, Bannon messaged Epstein: "I've gotten pulled into the EU exit issue this day with Farage, Boris and Rees Mogg."
Then, in what appears to be a reference to the UK prime minister, the struggling British leader at the period, he added: "The guys are attempting to proceed. May today / tomorrow…"
Epstein suggested Bannon: "I think staying as much as you can in the UK. Best-- so people get the dedication of your follow through."
Soon after, Epstein inquired: "Can Theresa may survive". Bannon answered: "It seems unlikely however the guys over here have little courage" and added "Johnson ; Michael Gove; Jacob Rees-Mogg; David Davis - someone has to step up".
Theresa May was finally toppled in May 2019 after withstanding two votes of lack of support in December 2018.
A spokesman for Reform UK told the BBC: "Nigel Farage has not been in a meeting with Bannon, Rees-Mogg and Johnson." And there is no evidence such a meeting occurred.
The Congress will vote next week on whether the justice department should release all its records related to its probe into Epstein, who passed away in jail in 2019.
Interest in Epstein's associations with influential individuals was renewed this week after the release of over 20,000 pages from his archives.
Some of those referenced the former president, who has consistently rejected any wrongdoing. The leader was a friend of Epstein's for years, but claims they parted ways in the early 2000s, a couple of years prior to Epstein was first arrested.