MAGA Insiders Want Longtime Trump Confidant Steve Bannon Excommunicated Following Latest Epstein Files Release

Following the release of millions of documents related to Jeffrey Epstein, some of President Trump’s most ardent supporters are turning their sights on one of their own — former White House advisor Steve Bannon. According to the records released by the Justice Department, Mr. Bannon had a much chummier relationship with Epstein than previously known. Mr. Bannon met Epstein in 2017, nearly a decade after he pleaded guilty to soliciting a minor for prostitution. The two would go on to have a friendly relationship from that first introduction until the day Epstein was arrested. According to text messages, Mr. Bannon was messaging with Epstein on the day he was arrested. At the time of the 2019 arrest, Mr. Bannon had been interviewing Epstein on camera as part of what he called “media training.” Video released by the DOJ in January includes a lengthy conversation between the two men about the American economy and Epstein’s time in prison after his 2008 guilty plea. The two men were scheduled to film another multi-hour interview on Epstein’s private island at the time he was arrested on sex trafficking charges. In April 2019 — just three months before Epstein’s arrest — Mr. Bannon said in a text message that he and his “confidential” team wanted to conduct more “media training” for the financier. “Spoke to [the] New Yorker last night, no publication imminent for a few weeks. My guys followed your script,” Epstein wrote to Mr. Bannon at the time. Following the release of these new documents, several prominent figures in the MAGA universe took aim directly at Mr. Bannon for his relationship with Epstein. “Steve Bannon. Perjurer. Trump backstabber. Convicted fraudster. Epstein image consultant and CCP frontman,” another former Trump advisor, Roger Stone, wrote on X over the weekend. Since that message, Mr. Stone has sent more than a dozen derisive posts about Mr. Bannon. Elon Musk, another former top aide to the president, has been ripping into Mr. Bannon for days after the release of the new files. Mr. Musk has claimed that there is something “rotten” in Mr. Bannon’s “soul,” that he is “evil,” and that there is a “very long” list of crimes Mr. Bannon has committed. “You can see the evil oozing out of Bannon’s face,” Mr. Musk wrote in response to a photo of Mr. Bannon on X. Though he has stepped away from his White House duties and previously swore off donating to candidates in the 2026 elections, Mr. Musk has since given millions to congressional Republicans and recently met with Mr. Trump’s pardon attorney, Ed Martin. Another Trump diehard who has turned against Mr. Bannon is the popular commentator who goes by the name “Catturd.” He has long praised Mr. Bannon as an important voice in the movement, but now says that the “damning” messages between Mr. Bannon and Epstein are a bridge too far. “[T]hey still keep talking about the Epstein files without mentioning the Elephant in the room. I’m sure they’re having meetings and strategy sessions right now on how to spin this,” he wrote on X, referring to Mr. Bannon and his team. “They’ll all come out at the same time with some ridiculous narrative. Is everyone a fraud? Is everyone a phony? You mean, there’s not going to be a single person in the inner circle who will call this BS out?”Since the release of additional files by the DOJ last month, additional pressure has grown to unredact the names of men who were corresponding with Epstein. The chairman of the House Oversight Committee, Congressman James Comer, is not ceasing his pursuit of information despite the Justice Department’s assertion that “all” of the Epstein files have been released. President Clinton and former secretary of state Hillary Clinton are set to be deposed by Oversight Committee lawmakers and lawyers at the end of the month, though Mr. Comer says that the questioning likely will not stop there, which could end up including Mr. Bannon. “We’ve got a lot of very important people we’re trying to bring in to answer questions,” Mr. Comer said when asked about Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, who also had a closer relationship with Epstein than previously known.

MAGA Insiders Want Longtime Trump Confidant Steve Bannon Excommunicated Following Latest Epstein Files Release

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