MAGA stalwart Steve Bannon has been praised by President Donald Trump after bombshell documents detailed the former White House adviser’s chummy relationship with Jeffrey Epstein.
Days after 3.5 million Epstein files were released featuring explosive new references to Trump and others in the sex offender’s orbit, the president posted a photo of an unusually dressed-up Bannon at Mar-a-Lago, standing alongside trade adviser Peter Navarro.
“Two very good guys who were treated so unfairly by Sleepy Joe Biden,” Trump wrote - a reference to both men being jailed for contempt of Congress in 2024 after refusing a subpoena to testify in an investigation into the January 6 attack at the U.S. Capitol.
“But now, they are bigger than ever!!!”
Epstein’s association with Bannon had been well documented, but the new trove of files released by the Justice Department suggest the relationship between the two men was more expansive than previously known.
At one point, Bannon took credit for convincing Trump during his first administration to impose massive tariffs on China, and also discussed his crowdfunding campaign “We Build the Wall”, in which Bannon defrauded people who thought they were contributing to Trump’s plan for a bigger wall at the southern border.
The pair even riffed about Trump, with Epstein at one point joking that the president should be called a “re grifter” not a “regifter”.
In a videotaped interview with Bannon, Epstein also referred to himself as a “Tier One” sexual predator, while in another text message exchange, the pair have a vulgar conversation discussing Trump’s then-new assistant, describing her as “Donald’s new friend.”
Epstein further refers to her as “Kneepads,” adding that she is “doing God’s work.”
“He’s much more calm, but the sight of him in the residence in his undies is hard to fathom,” Epstein added. “Ill give you details when I see you.”
The White House has said that any suggestion of an affair in the files is completely untrue, and Trump has consistently denied any wrongdoing in relation to Epstein more broadly.
But Bannon is not the only member of Trumpworld in the Epstein files. The documents also show that Elon Musk and Howard Lutnick, members of Trump’s inner circle, had tried to visit Epstein’s notorious island long after he was known to be a convicted pedophile.
But Musk spent the weekend scrambling to distance himself from the documents, writing on X: “legacy media lies relentlessly.”
He also put out a post suggesting Bannon and others were “guilty” of their associations with Epstein.
The suggestion was made in response to a follower writing: “Bill Gates emails in Epstein files. Steve Bannon emails in Epstein files. Reid Hoffman emails in Epstein files. Elon Musk emails in Epstein files. Bill Clinton emails in Epstein files. But only Elon Musk is calling for prosecutions. The others are silent. Why is that?”
“Because they are guilty,” Musk wrote.
Bannon left his role as White House Chief Strategist in August 2017, following clashes with other aides like Jared Kushner and a controversial interview where he publicly disagreed with the president’s stance on North Korea.
The Daily Beast has reached out to the MAGA loyalist for comment. Trump, meanwhile, insisted on Monday that he was not friends with Epstein and once again lashed out at author Michael Wolff, whom he has accused of “conspiring” to harm him.
“Not only wasn’t I friendly with Jeffrey Epstein but, based upon information that has just been released by the Department of Justice, Epstein and a SLEAZEBAG lying ‘author’ named Michael Wolff, conspired in order to damage me and/or my Presidency. So much for the Radical Left’s hope against hope, some of whom I’ll be suing,” he wrote.
“Additionally, unlike so many people that like to ‘talk’ trash, I never went to the infested Epstein island but, almost all of these Crooked Democrats, and their Donors, did.”
Trump has threatened to sue Wolff, the co-host of hit Daily Beast podcast Inside Trump’s Head.
But in response to the latest Trump threat, Wolff told the Beast over the weekend, “This is the third or fourth time the Trumps have threatened to sue me. So far this has only resulted in me suing them. So, bring it on. Let’s sue each other. I have nothing to hide, but the Trumps surely do.”
