(Zero Hedge)—With the Trump administration under fire from angry conservatives demanding the release of the federal government’s information about Jeffrey Epstein, increasing attention is turning to a trove that’s in private hands: Steve Bannon’s 15+ hours of videotaped interviews with Epstein.
The interviews took place between 2018 and 2019. That’s prior to Epstein’s July 6, 2019 arrest on sex-trafficking charges that eventually led to his death in a New York City jail, but after the Miami Herald put a new spotlight on Epstein’s manipulation of the criminal justice system after he was first investigated for sex crimes with underage girls in 2005, with the Herald tracking down scores of his victims.
In 2021, a trailer was released promoting an upcoming, Bannon-co-produced documentary called, “The Monsters: Epstein’s Life Among the Global Elite.” The trailer includes snippets from the interviews. However, nearly four years later, the documentary has yet to be released. Bannon says we can expect to see it early next year.
According to Epstein’s brother, Mark Epstein, the interviews were part of Bannon’s effort to salvage Jeffrey Epstein’s ruined public image. “[Bannon] told me he has like 15 or 16 hours of videotape of Jeff. He was trying to help Jeff rehabilitate his reputation,” Mark Epstein told NBC News. “They spent a lot of time together.”
According to Michael Tracey, who’s been diving into this summer’s eruption of Epstein controversy at his Substack newsletter, Bannon and Epstein are believed to have first met in December 2017, by which time Bannon was an alumnus of the first Trump administration and — more significantly — a renowned principal architect of Trump’s stunning, establishment-defying 2016 triumph.
Citing Michael Wolff’s book Fire and Fury, Tracey relates that Bannon participated in a media-strategy meeting with Epstein and others in late 2018 or early 2019. One of those others was former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak. “[Epstein] probably can’t be hated any more,” Bannon is quoted as declaring at the planning session. “We’ve flatlined on this. He can’t get deader. While the chances of reviving him are remote, what’s the alternative?”
It remains unclear whether Bannon was helping Epstein as a favor, or as a paid consultant with a recent history of masterful molding of public opinion about a controversial character. At the time, Epstein was shelling out $3 million a month to a British PR firm. Offering another potential insight into the nature of their relationship, Epstein’s Paris butler told Radio France that Bannon was among American guests Epstein hosted in France, with Epstein routinely accompanied by “juenes femmes.”
‘Epstein is the key that picks the lock’ of WHO REALLY CONTROLS the US — Bannon
Adds that resignations at the Justice Dept shouldn’t be the goal, that only brings turmoil
‘We need to get to the bottom of Epstein’ pic.twitter.com/0bBo7vEgfB
— RT (@RT_com) July 12, 2025
Bannon certainly hasn’t been talking like a man caught in an Israeli-intelligence honeypot, starting with his own public accusations that Epstein was tied to Israeli intelligence:
“[The Epstein story] goes right to the intelligence services of both this country and Israel. Let’s be blunt about this. That’s why all the Israel First guys — the Tel Aviv [Mark] Levins and all these guys — say ‘nothing to see here’.”
He’s also been a thorn in Israel’s side regarding the top item on the Zionist state’s agenda. After Israel launched its war on Iran last month and made every effort to maneuver the United States into a major, long-term commitment to conflict, Bannon was among the most outspoken voices on the right calling for Trump to steer clear — for example, telling Newsweek:
“What [Israel] did is they drew us into a war they knew they couldn’t finish. They drew us into a war they knew they couldn’t defend against. So, this is my problem. We need to reset. We don’t have an alliance with them, just like Ukraine. We’ve got to stop saying they’re allies, they’re not allies.”
Amid this month’s firestorm over the Epstein files, which includes widespread suspicions that Epstein was an asset of the Israeli Mossad, Bannon has been calling for Trump to appoint a special counsel to navigate the release of information. “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,” Bannon said at a Turning Points USA conference.
Meanwhile, a growing number of people would like Bannon to share his extraordinarily rare asset: More than 15 hours of interviews with a man who’d spent much of his adult life shying away from media inquiries. “Let me see the videotapes. He’s my brother,” Mark Epstein asked, via NBC News.
“We’re going to release the film, the five-part series next year — early next year,” Bannon said last week when asked about the documentary’s status. “You’re going to have to name names, and you’re going to have to understand how the elites of the world but also the intelligence services are inextricably linked in the Epstein story. That’s the key.”
Given the interviews were seemingly done as part of a PR effort on Epstein’s behalf, it strikes us as highly unlikely that Bannon’s videotapes captured anything explosive — but they would certainly make for highly-interesting viewing nonetheless.
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