Emails Reveal the late financier and former Trump strategist Relationship
In November 2018, Steve Bannon, formerly Donald Trump's chief strategist, visited the UK to deliver a address at the Oxford Union.
The speech was interrupted by hundreds of demonstrators, and Bannon, who was due to board a flight that evening, informed Jeffrey Epstein in an email: "Protesters delayed my talk don't think I can make the flight we r enroute to the airport".
Epstein responded: "That. Is a Gulf Air that leaves at 950 with a layover in Bahrain". Bannon answered: "You are an amazing helper".
These messages were published on this week together with over 20,000 pages from the records of Epstein, the late convicted sex offender.
The release by the House oversight committee includes an text conversation where Bannon's name is redacted. The BBC managed to establish his identity by matching the dates, events, and locations referenced.
For example, Epstein discusses chartering a jet from Scotland for the unnamed individual in the messages, and offers praise their "Oxford speech". Bannon took part in the News Xchange conference on November 14, and gave the speech 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 served as the president's key advisers in the lead-up to the presidential election and during the initial phase of his first administration, but resigned from the White House in August 2017.
He has acknowledged he was making a film about Epstein prior to his death and reportedly has approximately 15 hours of footage. In a live taping of his podcast earlier this year, he said: "We plan to release the series, the multi-part documentary, in the coming year - early next year."
But the newly released materials indicate Bannon's relationship with Epstein went further than being his biographer, with the disgraced financier occasionally seeming to act like a aide.
A short time before the conversation in which Epstein seemed to arranged a charter jet for Bannon, Epstein said: "what's it like to have the most highly paid booking agent in the world ".
Bannon thanked him: "You are quite capable asst", to which Epstein responded "Massages. Not Included".
Discussing a trip to "AD" in a separate text, Epstein told Bannon: "I'll make sure you are taken care of."
UK Politics Mentioned in Exchanges
The released communications also reveal Bannon and Epstein discussing UK politics in 2018.
On the same day his address at the Oxford, Bannon texted Epstein: "I became involved in the Brexit thing this day with Nigel, Boris and Rees Mogg."
Then, in what appears to be a allusion to Theresa May, the embattled UK prime minister at the period, he added: "They are trying to proceed. may today / tomorrow…"
Epstein advised Bannon: "In my view staying as long as you can uk. Best-- so others get the commitment of your follow through."
Shortly after, Epstein inquired: "Can Theresa may survive". Bannon replied: "It seems unlikely however the guys here have little courage" and added "Johnson ; Gove; Rees Mogg; David Davis - somebody has to step up".
May was finally toppled in 2019 after withstanding two votes of no confidence in December 2018.
A representative for the political party told the BBC: "Farage has not been in a gathering with Steve Bannon, Rees-Mogg and Boris Johnson." And there is no evidence that encounter took place.
The US House of Representatives will vote next week on whether the Department of Justice should make public all its records concerning its probe into Epstein, who passed away in jail in that year.
Interest in Epstein's associations with powerful figures was renewed this week after the release of over 20,000 pages from his estate.
A portion of those mentioned Trump, who has consistently rejected any wrongdoing. The president was a acquaintance of Epstein's for years, but says they fell out in the early 2000s, two years before Epstein was initially charged.