Messages Highlight the late financier and Steve Bannon Connection
In late 2018, Steve Bannon, formerly Donald Trump's chief strategist, visited the UK to deliver a speech at the Oxford Union.
The speech was disrupted by numerous demonstrators, and Bannon, scheduled to travel that evening, informed Jeffrey Epstein in an email: "Activists slowed down speech don't think I can catch the plane we r enroute to heathrow".
Epstein responded: "There. Is a gulf air that leaves at 9:50 with a stop in Bahrain". Bannon replied: "You are an excellent helper".
These messages were published on this week together with over 20,000 documents from the records of Epstein, the deceased financier convicted of sex crimes.
The release by the House oversight committee includes an text conversation where Bannon's name is redacted. Media outlets managed to establish his involvement by matching the timeline, occurrences, and locations referenced.
For example, Epstein talks about chartering a plane from the UK for the unnamed individual in the chat, and commends their "address at Oxford". Bannon took part in the Edinburgh conference on November 14, and gave the talk at the Oxford on November 16.
Bannon, who is not accused of any misconduct, did not reply on the inquiry.
'I'll make sure you're well looked after'
Bannon was one of Trump's closest aides in the lead-up to the 2016 election and in the early days of his first administration, but stepped down from the administration in August 2017.
He has admitted he was making a documentary about Epstein before his passing and reportedly has around 15 hours of footage. In a live taping of his podcast recently, he said: "We're going to release the series, the five-part series, in the coming year - at the start of next year."
But the newly released documents indicate Bannon's connection with Epstein went further than being his biographer, with the disgraced financier occasionally seeming to act like a personal assistant.
A few days before the exchange in which Epstein appeared to have booked a private plane for Bannon, Epstein remarked: "what's it like to have the highest-paid booking agent in the world ".
Bannon expressed gratitude: "You are pretty good asst", to which Epstein replied "Massages. Excluded".
Discussing a trip to "AD" in a separate text, Epstein assured Bannon: "I will ensure you are well looked after."
UK Politics Discussed in Messages
The published messages also show Bannon and Epstein talking about British political matters in 2018.
Earlier on the same day his address at the Oxford Union, Bannon texted Epstein: "I became involved in the Brexit thing this morning with Farage, Johnson and Mogg."
Then, in what appears to be a allusion to Theresa May, the struggling British leader at the period, he continued: "The guys are trying to move on. May soon…"
Epstein advised Bannon: "I think staying as long as you can in the UK. Ideal- so people get the commitment of your follow through."
Shortly after, Epstein inquired: "Can Theresa may survive". Bannon replied: "I don't see how BUT the people here have little courage" and added "Johnson ; Michael Gove; Rees Mogg; Davis - somebody has to take charge".
Theresa May was finally removed in 2019 after withstanding multiple attempts of no confidence in late 2018.
A representative for the political party told the BBC: "Nigel Farage has not been in a gathering with Steve Bannon, Jacob Rees Mogg and Boris Johnson." And there is no evidence such a meeting took place.
The US House of Representatives will vote next week on whether the justice department should release all its records concerning its probe into Epstein, who passed away in prison in that year.
Attention in Epstein's associations with powerful figures was renewed recently after the publication of over 20,000 documents from his archives.
A portion of those referenced the former president, who has repeatedly denied any impropriety. The president was a friend of Epstein's for a long time, but claims they fell out in the early 2000s, two years before Epstein was first arrested.