Emails Highlight the late financier and Steve Bannon Connection
In late 2018, Steve Bannon, previously a top aide to Donald Trump, was in the UK preparing for a speech at the prestigious Oxford Union.
The speech was interrupted by hundreds of protesters, and Bannon, who was due to board a flight that evening, informed Jeffrey Epstein in an message: "Activists delayed my talk don't think I can catch the plane we are heading to the airport".
Epstein responded: "That. Is a Gulf Air departing at 950 with a stop in Bahrain". Bannon answered: "You are an amazing helper".
These messages were published on Wednesday together with over 20,000 documents from the estate of Epstein, the late convicted sex offender.
The disclosure by the Congressional committee includes an text conversation where Bannon's name is withheld. Media outlets has been able to establish his identity by cross-referencing the timeline, events, and locations referenced.
For instance, Epstein talks about chartering a jet from Scotland for the redacted user in the messages, and commends their "address at Oxford". Bannon took part in the News Xchange conference on November 14, and gave the speech at the Oxford Union two days later.
Bannon, who faces no allegations of any wrongdoing, did not reply on the inquiry.
Epstein's Assurance to Bannon
Bannon was one of Trump'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 admitted he was producing a film about Epstein prior to his passing and allegedly has around 15 hours of footage. In a live taping of his podcast earlier this year, he stated: "We plan to publish the film, the multi-part documentary, in the coming year - at the start of next year."
But the recently disclosed documents indicate Bannon's relationship with Epstein extended than being his biographer, with the convicted paedophile occasionally seeming to act like a aide.
A short time before the conversation in which Epstein appeared to have booked a charter jet for Bannon, Epstein remarked: "how does it feel to have the highest-paid travel agent in history ".
Bannon thanked him: "U r pretty good assistant", to which Epstein responded "Massages. Excluded".
Discussing a trip to "AD" in a separate text, Epstein told Bannon: "I'll make sure you are well looked after."
UK Politics Discussed in Exchanges
The released messages also reveal Bannon and Epstein talking about UK politics in that year.
Earlier on the day of his speech at the Oxford, Bannon texted Epstein: "I became involved in the EU exit issue this day with Nigel, Boris and Mogg."
Then, in what seems like a allusion to Theresa May, the struggling UK prime minister at the period, he added: "They are attempting to proceed. may soon…"
Epstein advised Bannon: "In my view staying as long as you can in the UK. Ideal- so people see the dedication of your follow through."
Soon after, Epstein asked: "Can Theresa May survive". Bannon replied: "It seems unlikely BUT the people here have little courage" and noted "Boris ; Michael Gove; Jacob Rees-Mogg; Davis - somebody has to take charge".
Theresa May was eventually toppled in 2019 after withstanding two votes of lack of support in late 2018.
A representative for Reform UK informed the BBC: "Nigel Farage has never been in a meeting with Steve Bannon, Rees-Mogg and Johnson." And there is no evidence such a meeting took place.
The US House of Representatives will vote soon on whether the Department of Justice should release all its files related to its probe into Epstein, who died in jail in 2019.
Attention in Epstein's relationships with powerful figures was renewed recently after the release of more than 20,000 documents from his archives.
A portion of those mentioned the former president, who has consistently rejected any wrongdoing. The leader was a friend of Epstein's for a long time, but says they parted ways in the 2000s, a couple of years before Epstein was initially charged.