Steve Bannon Was Epstein’s Comeback Consultant. Where’s the Uproar?

The MAGA architect is escaping opprobrium for his chummy relationship with the notorious pedophile.

(Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

IF YOU FOLLOWED THE TWISTS AND TURNS of the Jeffrey Epstein saga over the last few weeks, you already know that several prominent names emerged from the tranche of emails that the Epstein estate released. But there is one big name that has so far received very little attention.

Let’s set the stage. To be unmasked as an Epstein crony is about the most embarrassing revelation for a public figure one can imagine at this moment, and sure enough, former treasury secretary and Harvard president Larry Summers, who exchanged scores of emails with the convicted pedophile, has seen his reputation shredded. The emails disclosed that Summers consulted Epstein for dating, or rather bedding, advice. Summers apparently thought Epstein was the guy who could help him to “get horizontal” with a woman mentee, though Summers was a married man and remains so. At the same time, he sought financial contributions from Epstein for an online poetry project his wife was launching.

It’s important to stress that Summers is not accused of any immoral or illegal conduct with underage girls, but he did betray a callous indifference to immoral and illegal conduct. Summers maintained a chummy relationship with Epstein years after Epstein had been convicted of soliciting underage prostitution, which is mind-boggling. I hate snap judgments, but in this case I find it impossible to imagine what the innocent explanation could be, nor has Summers offered one. His disgrace seems fully justified.

And the consequences have been swift. Summers has withdrawn from the Center for American Progress, the Yale Budget Lab, the board of directors of Open AI, the Center for Global Development, the Brookings Institution, and the Peterson Institute for International Economics, and has taken a leave of absence from Harvard. Summers’s behavior in his interactions with Epstein was appalling, but his response to the disclosure has been within normal bounds. He hasn’t sought to deflect blame or claim a hoax. Within hours of the emails’ release, he released a statement acknowledging guilt. “I am deeply ashamed of my actions and recognize the pain they have caused. I take full responsibility for my misguided decision to continue communicating with Mr. Epstein.”

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ALL OF WHICH RAISES A QUESTION: Why has there been no similar accountability for another of Epstein’s pen pals—Steve Bannon?

Trump’s consigliere, strategist, propagandist, and former senior counselor at the White House was on very friendly terms with Jeffrey Epstein. He exchanged hundreds of emails with the convicted felon and conspired to whitewash his public image.

Do you have friends who can send a private jet to retrieve you when your flight has been delayed? Epstein apparently did that for Bannon in 2018. On a trip to Great Britain, Bannon was greeted by protests. He emailed Epstein: “Protesters slowed down speech don’t think I can make the flight we r enroute to heathrow.” Epstein replied that he could fix it: “There. Is a gulf air that leaves at 950 with a stop in Bahrain.” Bannon was appreciative, joking that “U r an amazing assistant.” Keeping up the theme, Epstein emailed a few days later asking how it feels “to have the most highly paid travel agent in history.” Bannon responded “U r pretty good asst.” Epstein in turn replied “Massages. Not Included.” Yes, you read that correctly.

Bannon and Epstein talked politics quite a bit. Epstein quizzed Bannon about whether British Prime Minister Theresa May could survive. Bannon wrote back: “I don’t see how BUT the guys over here have no balls. . . . Boris; Gove; Rees Mogg; David Davis - somebody has to step up.” They also swapped theories about other European nations—though the identity is not always clear in their cryptic communications. In 2018, for example, Epstein emailed Bannon “Spoke to [the] country leader we discussed… I leave Wednesday, back Friday. We should lay out a strategy plan when I’m back. Travel safe.” And referring to a Bannon journey apparently to Abu Dhabi, Epstein wrote: “I’ll make sure you’re well looked after.” Responding to Bannon’s ambitions to extend the MAGA movement to Europe, Epstein advised: “If you are going to play here, you’ll have to spend time, Europe by remote doesn’t work. Lots and lots of face time and hand holding.” A few hours later he added “I am unaware of your playbook. however, whatever is good for you – Im in.”

The emails suggest that Bannon and Epstein often met in person, though, as Epstein’s case drew more attention in 2018 and 2019, they took precautions. Epstein emailed Bannon “Btw Im in New York tonite thru sat , if you want to visit under the cover of darkness or breakfast tomorrow if you like.” Bannon apparently did like, but requested “access that’s not the front door,” since Epstein was under “24/7 surveillance.”

As civil suits and journalistic investigations increased scrutiny of Epstein, Bannon wrote “there is a crazed jihad against u – ive never seen anything like it – and I’ve seen a lot.” When Epstein continued to express concern about the bad publicity, Bannon responded as he so often does to any bad news about Trump: He treated it as a conspiracy. “It’s an op dude – I do this for a living – the pieces that are dropping are deeply researched. . . . This is sophisticated op.” Soon thereafter, Epstein again sought Bannon’s counsel on how to respond to then-Senator Ben Sasse’s highly critical comments: “Continue to ignore? Ann Coulter on hannity/. Attack? Op ed , ? Not my skill set. . . . What about the attunes penning something that suggests indignation and lays out some of the facts.” Bannon replied that “That drives it a week,” prompting Epstein’s increasingly alarmed message that “sasse calling me a child rapist , is nuts!!! Sorry do. You mean ignore. , or responding makes it worse. ?” Bannon replied: “I think makes it way worse.”

Some weeks later, apparently planning some sort of public response, Bannon advises Epstein “If you do an interview it can’t be like ‘Johnnie does a utube’ - has to be amazingly professional and perfectly cut.”

One of those professionals was evidently going to be Bannon himself. He filmed fifteen hours for a documentary that would attempt to redeem Epstein’s reputation. When Epstein related that a “christian group” he had met with said the media were portraying him as “irredeemable,” Bannon responded, “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. . . . Can’t redeem unredeemable — — you are a lot of things — which we will show — but you are NOT that.”

Bannon then coordinated with Epstein about the filming schedule. Epstein asked: “Did your guys prefer beard or no beard?” Bannon responded: “Slight growth.”

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THE PUBLIC STEVE BANNON was another matter.

While sometimes casting doubt on the QAnon conspiracy, at other times he fed the flames. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene was a frequent guest on his podcast; she could be counted on to denounce the Democrats as the “party of pedophiles.” At the height of the 2020 election, Bannon acknowledged that he had sometimes laughed at QAnon, but then pivoted: “The elephant in the room is, people say they’re crazy, I’m just leaving that—put a pin in it. But when they look at the facts of this, how are they not, at least an aspect of their argument, at least appears directionally to be correct.” So while privately telling Epstein that the stories about his pedophilia were a “sophisticated op,” he was encouraging the public to believe that child abuse conspiracies were “directionally . . . correct.”

And earlier this year, addressing Turning Point USA, Bannon offered that “Epstein is a key that picks the lock on so many things. . . . Not just individuals, but also institutions. Intelligence institutions, foreign governments, and who was working with him on our intelligence apparatus and in our government.”

Well. The released emails show that one of those who was working most closely with Epstein, up to and including attempting to scrub his public image, was Bannon himself. Whatever else Larry Summers may be, he is not one of the principal authors of the MAGA movement who stoked conspiracies about the “deep state” and gave oxygen to the most unhinged beliefs in circulation. Summers’s involvement has been treated as the highest-profile revelation. But it’s not even close: Steve Bannon, the man millions of MAGA fans trust to tell it like it is, stands revealed as one of the most cynical liars ever to mar this country.

Where are the firings and denunciations? Where is Turning Point USA, the White House, Speaker Johnson? Where are all the MAGA faithful who claimed to believe or did believe in the vast conspiracy among elites to abuse children? And where, finally, is Bannon’s acknowledgment of wrongdoing? Where is his shame?

Of these two men, the less guilty has acknowledged wrongdoing and been harshly punished while the more guilty man sails on without a backward glance. It’s a travesty.