🔗 Share this article

In November 2018, Steve Bannon, previously a top aide to Donald Trump, was in the UK to deliver a speech at the Oxford Union.

The speech was disrupted by hundreds of demonstrators, and Bannon, who was due to board a flight that evening, told Jeffrey Epstein in an email: "Protesters delayed speech I doubt I can make the plane we r enroute to heathrow".

Epstein replied: "There. Is a Gulf Air departing at 9:50 with a stop in Bahrain". Bannon answered: "You are an excellent helper".

These messages were released on Wednesday alongside more than 20,000 pages from the records of Epstein, the deceased convicted sex offender.

The disclosure by the House oversight committee includes an iMessage chat where Bannon's name is withheld. Media outlets managed to establish his involvement by cross-referencing the timeline, occurrences, and locations referenced.

For example, Epstein talks about arranging a plane from Scotland for the unnamed individual in the chat, and offers praise 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 is not accused of any misconduct, did not reply on the inquiry.

Epstein's Assurance to Bannon

Bannon was one of the president's closest aides in the run up to the 2016 election and during the initial phase of his presidency, but stepped down from the White House in August 2017.

He has acknowledged he was producing a film about Epstein prior to his death and reportedly has approximately 15 hours of footage. In a live taping of his podcast recently, he stated: "We plan to publish the series, the five-part series, next year - early next year."

But the recently disclosed documents suggest Bannon's connection with Epstein extended than being his biographer, with the disgraced financier at times seeming to act like a personal assistant.

A short time before the conversation in which Epstein appeared to have booked a charter jet for Bannon, Epstein said: "what's it like to have the highest-paid booking agent in the world ".

Bannon thanked him: "U r pretty good asst", to which Epstein responded "Therapies. Excluded".

Discussing a trip to "AD" in another message, Epstein told Bannon: "I will ensure you're well looked after."

UK Politics Discussed in Messages

The released messages also reveal Bannon and Epstein discussing UK politics in that year.

Earlier on the same day his speech at the Oxford, Bannon texted Epstein: "I've gotten pulled into the EU exit thing this day with Nigel, Johnson and Mogg."

Then, in what seems like a reference to Theresa May, the struggling UK prime minister at the period, he continued: "They are trying to proceed. May today / tomorrow…"

Epstein advised Bannon: "In my view remaining as long as you can uk. Best-- so people see the dedication of your follow through."

Shortly after, Epstein inquired: "Can Theresa May survive". Bannon replied: "I don't see how BUT the guys here have little courage" and added "Boris ; Michael Gove; Jacob Rees-Mogg; David Davis - someone has to step up".

May was finally removed in May 2019 after surviving multiple attempts of no confidence in December 2018.

A representative for the political party told the BBC: "Farage has not been in a meeting with Steve Bannon, Rees-Mogg and Johnson." And there is nothing to suggest that encounter took place.

The US House of Representatives will decide soon on whether the Department of Justice should make public all its records concerning its investigation into Epstein, who died in prison in that year.

Attention in Epstein's relationships with powerful figures was renewed recently after the publication of over 20,000 documents from his archives.

Some of those referenced the former president, who has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing. The president was a friend of Epstein's for years, but says they fell out in the 2000s, a couple of years before Epstein was initially charged.