This is an adapted excerpt from the Nov. 19 episode of “The Beat with Ari Melber.”
Donald Trump has officially signed the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which forces the federal government to release all documents related to its investigation into the late sex offender. Those documents are likely to overlap with the more than 20,000 emails from the Epstein estate released by Congress last week.
Epstein and Bannon exchanged hundreds of messages in 2018 and 2019.
Those emails drove headlines about Epstein’s relationship with high-profile figures, including Trump and members of the president’s inner circle — such as the former chair of his 2016 campaign, Steve Bannon. The controversial firebrand went on to serve in the White House and was later sentenced to prison as punishment for refusing to cooperate with evidence requests about Trump.
There were public links between Epstein and Bannon, but the new emails reveal more cooperation, plotting and secret strategy sessions.
Bannon has not been accused of any wrongdoing in the Epstein scandal, but the two exchanged hundreds of messages in 2018 and 2019. In a period when the disgraced financier was facing more heat than ever, it appeared that the Trump ally got ever closer to him, while hiding their potentially embarrassing alliance.
During that time, Epstein lived in a grand townhouse near Central Park, and the two men knew he was so politically toxic and embarrassing that they hid Bannon’s arrival. In one of the emails, Epstein wrote: “Btw Im in New York tonite thru sat , if you want to visit under the cover of darkness or breakfast tomorrow if you like.”
That did not appear to be dramatic rhetoric. Bannon got the drift and asked about “access that’s not the front door,” citing the “24/7 surveillance” on Epstein. The convicted sex offender offered a hidden “rear entrance” where someone would let Bannon in.
Those messages match Bannon’s phone number, according to reporting from The Guardian.
Bannon also emailed about secretly trying to help Epstein redeem his reputation. Epstein recounted how “christians” he met with felt as if the media was portraying him “as beyond redemption,” and believed that was “deeply troubling and offensive.”
The Trump adviser replied: “Yes yes yes of course — but we must counter ‘rapist who traffics in female children to be raped by worlds most powerful , richest men’ — that can’t be redeemed — that why we let them blow up the argument while showing the 12 you redeemed.” Adding, “Can’t redeem unredeemable — — you are a lot of things — which we will show — but you are NOT that.”
Of course, the accounts of survivors and much evidence suggest otherwise.
But this went far beyond just emailing ideas. Bannon took 15 hours of videos of Epstein as a so-called documentary just months before his arrest and death.
The film, “The Monsters: Epstein’s Life Among the Global Elite,” was never released, but a 2021 trailer shows the pair talking about accountability movements that targeted men like Epstein, such as the Time’s Up organization, which the convicted sex offender said he was a “firm believer and supporter” of.
It appears the media advice went both ways. In August 2018, Epstein wrote that he changed his plans to watch Bannon on TV. Records show that the interview the pair was referencing was Bannon’s appearance with me, on “The Beat.”
Epstein wrote to Bannon, “You looked so clean cut next to him i thought i turned on the figure skating channel by accident.” Bannon wrote back that it was his, “come hither” look, to which Epstein replied, “Better than the usual ‘come hitler’ look.” Bannon took that as a negative and replied, “Ouch.”
The two continued in a kind of banter, with Bannon referring to MS NOW, then MSNBC, as the “‘soy boy’ network,” and said he wanted to look “clean’ not sloppy.” Epstein replied, “Closer to toy boy ;).” Bannon was likely referring to how Trump knocked him as “Sloppy Steve” during their falling out earlier that year. Bannon’s appearance and dress had come up in public more than most operatives. In an email to journalist Michael Wolff, Epstein talked about seeing Bannon in London, writing: “he seemed especially paranoid about any reporters seeing me with him. My guess is that he is working hard on his relationship with Trump who he sees as newly ascendent and being seen with me might queer that.” Epstein said Bannon’s media tour “seemed with an eye toward an audience of one.” The new emails also show Epstein emailed a lot with Wolff, possibly as part of the very media strategy he plotted with Bannon. But, in an email that has not received much attention so far, Epstein said that outreach was a failure for him — and maybe Bannon, too. This is striking. Without the public bluster and spin, you can see two self-styled strategists admitting their outreach failed. “I have now seen some of Wolffs book,” Epstein wrote. “Mentions me and underage prostitutes. You as the ‘man behind and in front of the curtain.’ Lots of Steve quotes. Lots.” Bannon replied, “Ugh — anything awful??? Wish he hadn’t done that — why are u mentioned @ all?” This is striking. Without the public bluster and spin, you can see two self-styled strategists admitting their outreach failed. Epstein’s main vulnerability, underage sex crimes, was boosted to new visibility in Wolff’s book, which spent two months atop the bestseller list, during a period of Trump mania. Epstein had faced all kinds of legal heat, but by 2019, he and his lawyers could see things were at a new level. Just one week before his arrest, Epstein pondered his own supposed leverage over Trump. “Now you can understand why Trump wakes up in the middle of the night sweating when he hears you and I are friends,” he wrote. Back then, that may have sounded like some overblown claim by a paranoid con man and sex trafficker to his political buddy, something many would dismiss. But a long six years later, Trump’s many efforts to hide the Epstein files puts that secret claim in a different light. Allison Detzel contributed.
Ari Melber
Ari Melber, an Emmy Award-winning journalist, writer and attorney, is the host of “The Beat with Ari Melber” airing nightly at 6 p.m. ET on MSNBC. He also serves as MSNBC’s chief legal correspondent and an NBC News legal analyst. Before joining MSNBC, Melber practiced First Amendment law and served as a legislative aide in the U.S. Senate. He received a J.D. from Cornell Law School and is a member of the New York Bar.
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