Support our mission to provide fearless stories about and outside the media system
Read our
Digital / Print Editions
Packed with exclusive investigations, analysis, and features
SUBSCRIBE TODAY
Private messages obtained from Jeffrey Epstein's communications archive and released by the House Oversight Committee show that months before his arrest, he had a direct line into President Donald Trump's inner circle during his first administration. The messages ramped up as his former chief strategist Steve Bannon was working to rehabilitate Epstein's public image in the hours leading up to the convicted sex offender's final arrest in July 2019.
Messages from March that year show Epstein passing Bannon detailed sensitive information about private tensions inside Trump's White House - including the President's frustrations with Vice President Mike Pence, his view that Mike Pompeo would be a better running mate, and a specific internal dispute in which Trump asked John Kelly and Jared Kushner to try to remove one another. The files confirm that Epstein had knowledge only available to the President, very senior advisors, family insiders, or someone with direct access to them. None of this was public at the time, but each element emerged months later through media reporting, indicating that Epstein had access to Trump's inner circle - a revelation which sits uneasily with Trump's claim to have cut him off years earlier.
The messages also show that around this time Bannon was helping the convicted sex offender - charged with operating a vast international sex trafficking ring involving underage girls - to prepare a documentary intended to relaunch his reputation. This included plans to film on Epstein's private Caribbean island, with the two men coordinating schedules until moments before Epstein was taken into federal custody. Just a week prior to his arrest, Epstein sent a message to Bannon appearing to show that he believed Trump was aware, or would be aware, of their ongoing relationship.
Alongside these exchanges, the archive places Epstein inside Bannon's wider political operations. In 2018, internal briefings on Bannon's efforts to build a European alliance of right-wing parties - which named Matteo Salvini, Viktor Orban and Nigel Farage - were circulated to Epstein as part of a shared email thread. Other messages show Epstein offering political guidance as Bannon followed the prosecution of Paul Manafort and discussed senior State Department figures and foreign diplomats.
Together, the communications show that Epstein remained in active political and strategic contact with one of the most influential figures of the Trump movement - with Donald Trump, according to Epstein, aware of the connection as it unfolded.
Epstein's Direct Line Into the Trump Inner Circle
On 12 March 2019, during a sequence of messages sent within minutes of each other, Epstein reported Donald Trump's private views about Vice President Mike Pence and other senior advisers.
At 14:46:08, Epstein wrote:
"Djt. Now really down on pence"
At 14:46:55, he added:
"thinks Pompeo would be better vp"
At 14:47:12:
"Says pence not really loyal"
And at 14:47:38:
"And yes he did ask Kelly to get rid of jared , and then jared to get rid of Kelly. Par for the course"
Bannon responded in real time, beginning at 14:46:31:
"How did u hear and why is he"
Two minutes later, at 14:50:06, he replied:
"This is why things f***ed up"
And at 14:50:17:
"Pompeo much better VP"
These details - including Trump's consideration of replacing Pence with Mike Pompeo and the President's internal manoeuvring between John Kelly and Jared Kushner - were not public at the time. They would have been known only to senior officials or individuals with direct access to them.
Taken together, the messages show Epstein receiving and sharing highly sensitive internal White House information within minutes, months before any of it surfaced publicly.
A message sent on 28 June 2019 shows Jeffrey Epstein appear...