Steve Bannon Is Keeping Hours of Footage of Jeffrey Epstein Secret

Steve Bannon is one of the far right’s most well-known and active operators, having been an adviser to Donald Trump and and the editor of Breitbart. Why, then, did he spend months in the homes of Jeffrey Epstein, interviewing the billionaire sex criminal for a documentary?

Business Insider revealed Wednesday that Bannon has hours of footage of Epstein from the financier’s homes in Manhattan and Paris before Epstein died in jail in 2019, supposedly as part of a documentary to be called The Monsters: Epstein’s Life Among the Global Elite.

More than five years later, a small teaser trailer of the film from 2021, showing Bannon arguing with Epstein over his treatment of women, is the only part of it that has been released. It makes little sense, considering that Epstein is vilified in Bannon’s target right-wing audience and that having exclusive footage of the deceased billionaire would likely bring in viewers far beyond that group.

One possibility might be that Bannon wouldn’t be reflected in the best light. Bannon met Epstein in December 2017 after the former stopped working for then-President Trump. During the summer of 2018, Bannon spent a lot of time with Epstein, supposedly for the documentary. But according to associates of the two men, Bannon’s documentary wasn’t serious at all.

These associates told B.I. that the two acted more like friends than adversaries, and Bannon was actually trying to help Epstein with public relations, advising the billionaire on how to handle the legal and journalistic investigations against him. Bannon continued to spend time with Epstein through the next year, when the financier would be arrested on sex-trafficking charges.

Despite the fact that legal cases connected to Epstein are still ongoing, including the criminal sex-trafficking trial of his wife, Ghislaine Maxwell, the rest of the footage has not come to light. Mark Epstein, Jeffrey’s brother, told B.I. in 2023 that he received some of the footage from his brother, but when he asked Bannon about the rest of it, he was rebuffed.

“He told me he had like 16 hours of videotaping with Jeffrey in his vault,” Mark Epstein said. “And he told me it was protected because it was witness preparation and it was protected under attorney-client privilege. But the thing is, Bannon’s not an attorney.”

Bannon himself is currently serving a four-month prison sentence for contempt of Congress after he refused to respond to a subpoena to testify before the House January 6 committee. Is Bannon refusing to release the footage because it would reflect poorly on him in addition to his conviction? Is he worried that it would reflect poorly on Trump, a onetime associate of Epstein who claims to have had a falling out with the financier in the 2000s? It just adds to the many mysteries and conspiracies surrounding Epstein.

Donald Trump’s MAGA followers have become even more sycophantic in the wake of his attempted assassination, with at least one Republican lawmaker outright comparing the convicted felon to Jesus.

During a livestream on Sunday, Representative Lauren Boebert directly compared Trump to Christ on the basis that both had been “canceled,” and her belief that their personal sacrifices “for the people” were identical.

“This censorship, the silencing of those who speak the truth, is nothing new. Cancel culture is nothing new. You cannot cancel who God has called,” Boebert said. “They tried to cancel Jesus. You can’t cancel God.

“Jesus laid down his own life. No one took his life. He laid that down for you and for me, and history repeats itself,” she added.

She’s not the first to draw the comparison, however. Ahead of Trump’s arraignment on hush-money charges last year, Georgia Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene went out on a limb in claiming that the charges against Trump made him akin to Jesus.

“Trump is joining some of the most incredible people in history being arrested today. Nelson Mandela was arrested, served time in prison,” Greene said at the time. “Jesus! Jesus was arrested and murdered.”

The attack on Trump’s life was a definitive turning point for the conservative party and Trump’s positioning within it. Since the attack, several conservative leaders have hopped onto the messianic bandwagon, though few have been as brazen as Boebert in linking the former president directly to Jesus.

On Sunday, House Speaker Mike Johnson claimed that “GOD protected President Trump.” Evangelical minister Franklin Graham told Fox News that Trump was spared by “God’s hand of protection.” From inside prison, former Trump adviser Steve Bannon stated that Trump “wears the armor of God,” and Texas Governor Greg Abbott joined in the overzealous fray, adding that Trump was “truly blessed.”

A new trend is sweeping the Republican National Convention, and it’s exactly as silly-looking as it sounds: Delegates and spectators have started sporting bulky ear bandages to copy Donald Trump.

Trump made waves on Monday when he appeared at the RNC with a bandage over his right ear. Two days earlier, an attempt on the former president’s life at a rally in Pennsylvania had left him mostly unharmed, except for a gash to his ear caused by a near-miss bullet. Trump’s former doctor Representative Ronny Jackson said the bullet took “a little bit” of his ear off.

It didn’t take long before the copycat bandages started popping up around Milwaukee’s Fiserv Forum. The Daily Beast reported spotting multiple people sporting them.

Joe Neglia, a delegate from Arizona who appeared to have taped a square of paper to the side of his head, told CBS News it was “the newest fashion trend.”

“Everybody in the world is going to be wearing these pretty soon,” Neglia said, explaining that he’d folded a piece of paper to wear while on the bus ride in.

“It’s just in sympathy with Donald Trump,” Neglia told Sam Levine of The Guardian. “I saw that man get shot; I thought, that man has almost given his life for his country; he deserves some respect for that.”

Stacey Goodman, another Arizona delegate who’d taped paper to the side of her head, said that it was “done in solidarity with my president, Trump, not the current thing that’s in the administration.”

The faux bandages are a testament to just how quickly political violence can be meme-ified, and how willing Trump’s followers are to follow him off whatever bridge he decides to jump from. Luckily, this one isn’t very high; it’s just stupid.

While sucking up to Donald Trump at the Republican National Convention on Tuesday, Marjorie Taylor Greene was stunned when a reporter asked a follow-up question about his running mate, J.D. Vance.

Jo Crawford, from The Times of London, asked the Republican representative from Georgia about J.D. Vance’s comments last week that the United Kingdom might be the first “Islamist country” thanks to the newly elected Labour government

“Doesn’t that paint a sour picture for relations with the U.K.?” Crawford asked Greene, who immediately entered meltdown mode.

“Well, let’s talk about the words of the Democrats and Joe Biden that have also labeled President Trump as a fascist, labeled all of us as Nazis and Hitler.” She then went on to blame the attempted assassination of Trump on Democrats, a line she’s been trying to peddle, despite the fact that the shooter was a registered Republican.

When the reporter tries to get Greene back on topic, Greene got angry, interrupting the journalist and turning to personal attacks. “Let’s talk about people like you,” Greene said, pointing her finger at Crawford.

“I have some of the most highest amount of death threats because of people like you,” Greene said. “You choose to take only certain words from people, and then that’s what you report. Shame on you.”

“You’re ridiculous. And you’re the problem in our country,” she began to yell. “You’re the cause of our country being divided. You’re the cause of Trump almost being assassinated.”

Greene’s anti-media attack is in line with a growing disdain on the right, which blames the media for political violence. “This is your fault!” an attendee of Trump’s Pennsylvania rally yelled out shortly after the shooting on Saturday, pointing at individual journalists on the press fence.

In March, Greene also told former BBC journalist Emily Maitlis to “fuck off” when asked about her “Jewish space lasers” conspiracy.

House Speaker Mike Johnson’s day two delivery at the Republican National Convention was a drastic departure from the “unity convention” gimmick that the party had promised.

While referring to the “battle” and “struggle” for control of American life and slamming Democrats as the “party of self-destruction,” the Louisiana politician took a moment to nod to one of his favorite, and most dangerous, conspiracies: the “great replacement theory.”

“We cannot allow the many millions of illegal aliens they’ve allowed to cross our borders, to harm our citizens, raid our resources, or disrupt our elections. We will not allow it,” Johnson said. “My friends, we’re watching the principles of faith, family, and freedom that once defined our great nation now being trampled underfoot by the radical left.”

The great replacement theory is a white-nationalist, far-right conspiracy that purports that white, historically European populations are being “replaced” by people of color through mass migration with the sign-off of the elite ruling class. The conspiracy also completely ignores the fact that the United States was a nation founded and built by displaced immigrants—including white, European ones, who were fleeing government and religious persecution in regions such as Holland, Germany, and Britain. Not to mention that those immigrants displaced (or replaced, if you will) the Indigenous people already living here.

Outcry against the current wave of migrants, many of whom are crossing the U.S.-Mexico border in order to find better living conditions and work, just as previous waves of immigrants have, flagrantly ignores the nation’s prior principles on the matter—despite the fact that they’re codified on some of our national monuments.

Calling back to the moment that Donald Trump stood up with a pumped fist and a bloodied ear on Friday, Johnson told the crowd that “now is our time to fight.”

“And we will,” he added, to a cheering crowd.

Former Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley appeared at the Republican National Convention as part of Donald Trump’s new, feigned bid for unity, and was predictably booed by his base.

As Haley was introduced to the stage Tuesday night, loud boos could be heard among the crowd. Some booing reportedly continued throughout the speech. So much for unity, then.

Haley said that Trump had asked her to speak “in the name of unity,” and she offered her “strong endorsement” of the Republican nominee.

“You don’t have to agree with Trump 100 percent of the time to vote for him. Take it from me,” said Haley, referencing her totally abandoned criticisms of the former president.

“I haven’t always agreed with President Trump. But we agree more often than we disagree. We agree on keeping America strong. We agree on keeping America safe. And we agree that Democrats have moved so far to the left that they’re putting our freedoms in danger.”

Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, who ran his own long-shot anti-Trump presidential campaign, had harsh words for Haley after her speech Tuesday.

“We have enormously challenging times in our country right now, and what we need are leaders who have the courage of their convictions. What we saw in her speech tonight was neither courage nor convictions, it was really tortured ambition,” Christie said during an interview on ABC News.

“She was on that stage because she is tortured by her own ambition. She had to go up there if she wants to run again in 2028—in her own mind. And that was more important than her standing up for the things she represented to the voters in the Republican primaries about Donald Trump being unfit, unhinged, just unqualified to be president of the United States.”

Christie said Haley’s “flip-flop” plea for unity would be unconvincing to her centrist voters. “I don’t think any Haley voter is gonna care,” he said.

Vivek Ramaswamy’s speech at the Republican National Convention Tuesday night included a strange invitation to young people, which quickly got dumped on by Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

“Our message to Gen Z is this: You’re going to be the generation that actually saves this country,” Ramaswamy said at the RNC. “You want to be a rebel? You want to be a hippie? You want to ‘stick it to the man’? Show up on your college campus and try calling yourself a conservative. Say you want to get married, have kids, teach them to believe in God and pledge allegiance to their country.”

Ocasio-Cortez called out the former presidential candidate on X, saying, “If you want to be cool so badly, try giving a damn about other people beyond yourself. Might open a few doors.”

“Young people don’t take well to bigoted leaders who attack LGBTQ+ rights, outlaw abortion, cozy up to gun manufacturers + oil execs, and support a rapist for President,” Ocasio-Cortez posted.

The New York congresswoman has a point, as Ramaswamy doesn’t have much credibility when it comes to what’s “cool,” unless you count his insane temperature demands while on the campaign trail. He tried to be a libertarian rapper in college known as “Da Vek,” with his out-of-breath bars drawing few, if any fans. On the campaign trail, he tried to use rap to pander to voters, covering Eminem’s “Lose Yourself,” his college favorite. But this led to a cease-and-desist from Slim Shady himself, who is completely against Donald Trump and embraces left-wing causes like Black Lives Matter.

If Ramaswamy thinks contrarianism is cool, maybe it’s because he has implied in the past that the 9/11 attacks were an inside job. That’s something he didn’t mention at the RNC, along with his ideas to take away birthright citizenship and severely restrict young people’s right to vote. Young people probably won’t like the fact that he was once very critical of Donald Trump before becoming one of the convicted felon’s biggest fans.

If Ramaswamy wants the Republican Party to attract young people, he might consider keeping his mouth shut. Because if there’s one thing that repels them, it’s an older, out of touch guy telling them how to be cool.

After Senator Bob Menendez was convicted Tuesday on all 16 counts in his federal corruption trial, many of his Democratic colleagues swiftly called for his resignation.

“In light of this guilty verdict, Senator Menendez must now do what is right for his constituents, the Senate, and our country, and resign,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said shortly after the news broke.

Many others now urging the New Jersey congressman to step down had also done so after the charges first came to light. For example, Representative Andy Kim, the Democratic challenger for Menendez’s Senate seat this election, echoed previous calls for his opponent’s resignation, tweeting: “Our public servants should work for the people, and today we saw the people judge Senator Menendez as guilty and unfit to serve. I called on Senator Menendez to step down when these charges were first made public, and now that he has been found guilty, I believe the only course of action for him is to resign his seat immediately.”

Senators Cory Booker, Dick Durbin, and Amy Klobuchar, and Representative Katie Porter all similarly reiterated their previous calls for Menendez’s resignation. “You’ve got to know when to hold ’em, and know when to fold ’em,” Senator Tom Carper said, advising Menendez to do the latter.

Some have gone further, advocating for Menendez’s expulsion from the Senate should he fail to resign. New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy issued a statement saying, “If [Menendez] refuses to vacate his office, I call on the United States Senate to vote to expel him. In the event of a vacancy, I will exercise my duty to make a temporary appointment to ensure the people of New Jersey have the representation they deserve.”

A statement by New Jersey Representative Mikie Sherrill similarly said, “If he refuses to resign from the Senate, he should be expelled. New Jersey deserves leadership that puts the people and our country first—not profit or self interest.”

Vowing to appeal the verdict, Menendez has not answered questions about whether he will heed these calls and resign.

Georgia’s Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday that it will hear oral arguments for Donald Trump’s appeal to disqualify Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis from his election interference case after the presidential election has already taken place.

In a new order, the court scheduled the proceedings for December 5. As a result, the case likely will not resume until well into 2025, if at all. If Trump is reelected to the White House, the case against him would be postponed until his term ends in 2029—or possibly longer.

Earlier this month, the court ordered a stay in Trump’s election interference case pending the outcome of several appeals from Trump and his co-defendants seeking to remove Willis from the case, appealing a lower court decision to keep her on.

Since then, the Supreme Court has issued a ruling on Trump’s immunity, making it impossible to prosecute any president for what they claim to be “official acts” taken in office. One of Trump’s attorneys has already started claiming that Trump and his allies’ fake elector scheme constituted an “official act.”

In a sneaky footnote in Chief Justice John Roberts’s majority opinion, the court also affirmed that a sitting president cannot be criminally prosecuted, meaning that should Trump be elected again, all of his criminal trials will come to an abrupt end.

The Georgia court’s decision comes a day after Judge Aileen Cannon dismissed Trump’s classified documents case in Florida. Cannon ruled that special counsel Jack Smith’s appointment was unconstitutional.

Republican vice presidential nominee J.D. Vance once gave a strange defense of disgraced conspiracy theorist Alex Jones during an event held by a shadowy dark money–backed conservative network, according to video obtained by ProPublica.

In 2021, when Vance had just entered the race to replace Ohio Senator Rob Portman, he spoke at a closed-door event hosted by the secretive Teneo Network, an organization backed by conservative billionaire Leonard Leo.

Leo, who is the co-chairman of the Federalist Society, and single-handedly responsible for installing the conservative majority in the U.S. Supreme Court, tracelessly infuses hundreds of millions of dollars into the conservative legal movement every year. With the Teneo Network, Leo said he hoped to create “networks of conservatives that can roll back” liberal influence in all spheres of life, including business, media, and entertainment, according to an informational video about the group obtained by ProPublica.

Vance joined the network in 2018, years before he would run for office. At the time, he was a bestselling author running a nonprofit and investment fund.

During his speech at Teneo’s 2021 Retreat, Vance tried to explain his defense of Jones, the right-wing podcaster and supplement pusher who infamously insisted that the Sandy Hook massacre of children was a hoax. Vance had recently sparked a tidal wave of backlash after he tweeted that Jones was more reliable than MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow.

In front of the audience, Vance tried to defend himself, saying he was “just trolling,” before walking back his denial to insist “that doesn’t mean what I said is in any way untrue.”

Vance explained that it was important to “have a little fun” when you might end up as a political prisoner in your own country. “It’s OK to troll when you make and speak fundamental truths. But, look, I do think what I said was correct,” he said.

“If you listen to Rachel Maddow every night, the basic worldview that you have is that MAGA grandmas who have family dinners on Sunday and bake apple pies for their family are about to start a violent insurrection against this country,” said Vance. “But if you listen to Alex Jones every day, you would believe that a transnational financial elite controls things in our country, that they hate our society, and oh, by the way, a lot of them are probably sex perverts too.”

“Sorry, ladies and gentlemen, that’s actually a hell of a lot more true than Rachel Maddow’s view of society,” said Vance.

Vance urged conservatives to listen to conspiracists and ignore the baseless, dangerous claims they make. He used himself as an example. “I believe the devil is real and that he works terrible things in our society,” he said. “That’s a crazy conspiracy theory to a lot of very well-educated people in this country right now.”

“A lot of the things that are ultimately gonna get revealed as truths are gonna be advocated originally by crazy people. It doesn’t mean you have to be best friends with them,” Vance said, adding that conservatives should stand up for “nonconventional people.”

Vance has a pretty solid track record of ignoring the more heinous things his buddies say. In 2022, the soon-to-be senator gave a friendly 90-minute interview with right-wing activist Jack Murphy, who had once claimed that “feminists need rape,” according to Mother Jones. And of course, there’s his newfound support for Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, whom Vance once called “America’s Hitler.”