Steve Bannon’s jokey texts to notorious paedophile Jeffrey Epstein have been revealed as part of a 23,000 document dump from a US Congress committee
Former Donald Trump aide Steve Bannon joked about Jeffrey Epstein being the “connective tissue” between the US President and then-Prince Andrew.
The messages came in 23,000 documents handed over to the US House Oversight Committee by dead paedophile’s estate – and coincided with Trump’s first state visit to the UK. During the visit, Trump and wife Melania laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior, alongside then-Prince Andrew.
Shortly after images emerged of the event, paedophile financier Epstein sent a text message to Bannon, which read: “Prince Andrew and Trump today. Tooo funny.” He sent a follow up message: “Recall Prince Andrew’s accuser came out of Mar A Lago.” Bannon replied to Epstein: “Can’t believe nobody is making u the connective tissue”
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said yesterday that Democrats had leaked select emails to “create a fake narrative to smear President Trump.”
Virginia Giuffre, Andrew’s accuser, previously worked in the spa at President Trump’s Mar A Lago resort in Palm Beach Florida, before alledgedly being recruited for Epstein by Ghislaine Maxwell.
In another exchange from years earlier, former Prince Andrew insisted he had “NOTHING” to do with sex abuse claims against him and Epstein, and begged the financier to “say so”.
He added: “I can’t take any more of this.” The exchange came in an email in March 2011, when the former Prince was under mounting criticism over his friendship with Epstein.
It was in a chain of emails copying in Maxwell, Epstein’s fixer and two lawyers, and was in response to a request for comment from a newspaper about allegations regarding Andrew and a complainant thought to be Virginia Giuffre.
“Hey there!” Andrew wrote. “What’s all this? I don’t know anything about this! You must SAY so please. This has NOTHING to do with me. I can’t take any more of this.”
But elsewhere in the emails, Epstein appears to confirm the infamous photo of Andrew with Giuffre was real.
“Yes she [Giuffre] was on my plane and yes she had her picture taken with Andrew,” he wrote in July 2011.
Later, in 2016, Epstein revealed Peter Mandelson, the former UK ambassador to Washington, had told him to “stay away” from Andrew.
The emails – which confirm Mandelson was still in contact with Epstein until at least 2016, many years after the paedophile was first imprisoned for his crimes – open with Epstein apparently wishing Mandelson well on his birthday.
“63 years old. You made it,” Epstein wrote.
Epstein appears to tells Lord Mandelson “you were right about staying away from Andrew”. The peer responds: “Yes, without Andrew it would not have gone nuclear.”
In an email chain from 2011, Epstein forwards to Lord Mandelson a request for an interview from BBC Radio 4’s Today programme sent to his attorney, Jack Goldberger. The broadcaster expresses an interest in speaking to him about “stories which are circulating, however inaccurately, about both him and Prince Andrew, the Duke of York”. Lord Mandelson replied: “No!!”
Epstein died in a New York jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking and conspiracy charges.
Andrew has faced sustained scrutiny over allegations made by Virginia Giuffre, who said she was trafficked by Epstein as a teenager and forced to have sex with him, which he vehemently denies. She died earlier this year by suicide.
Following the publication of her posthumous memoir last month, King Charles removed Andrew’s “prince” title and is evicting him from Royal Lodge. Andrew settled a civil lawsuit with Giuffre for a reported £12 million in 2022 without admitting liability.
In a 2019 BBC interview, he said he had “no recollection” of meeting her and said “under the right circumstances” he would testify under oath. “If push came to shove and the legal advice was to do so, then I would be duty-bound to do so,” he said.
He acknowledged he had met Epstein before and after the financier’s first conviction and confirmed visits to Epstein’s island and private plane. He also confirmed Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell visited Windsor Castle and Sandringham.
