Steve Bannon Called Jeffrey Epstein “God,” New Text Messages Reveal

Former Donald Trump adviser Steve Bannon once called Jeffrey Epstein “God” during a text message exchange, newly released government files reveal.

In May 2018, the two men were having a discussion about currency trading, in which Bannon praised Epstein’s financial acumen.

“Bannon hammers; God shorts,” Bannon wrote.

“I don’t think of myself that way,” Epstein replied.

“I do,” said Bannon.

A text message like this seems to go far beyond an exchange by a documentarian and his subject. Bannon built a close relationship with Epstein while ostensibly filming the billionaire financier and convicted sex offender for a documentary he was making. The files show that the pair would correspond often, with Epstein offering plane trips to Bannon and the two regularly meeting. Bannon offered Epstein advice on how to deal with increased negative publicity from 2017, when the two first met, through July 2019, when Epstein was charged with sex trafficking of minors.

Bannon claims that all of this was part of his efforts to secure interviews from Bannon for the film.

“I am a filmmaker and TV host with decades of experience interviewing controversial figures,” Bannon told The New York Times in a statement. “That’s the only lens through which these private communications should be viewed—a documentary filmmaker working, over a period of time, to secure 50 hours of interviews from a reclusive subject.”

Bannon said in the statement that the documentary, which a spokesperson claims will be released later this year, would “destroy the very myths [Epstein] created.” But Bannon is hardly innocent of helping to build those “myths.” Was it necessary for Bannon to call Epstein “God”?

The rest of the released texts and emails between Epstein and Bannon show the pair working together and maintaining a close friendship. Epstein offered to cover Bannon’s medical expenses, and the pair shared multiple meals together at Epstein’s mansion in Manhattan.

At one point in 2018, Epstein told another associate, regarding Bannon, “We have become friends.” That same year, Epstein told Bannon, “Whatever you need, I’m in,” of Bannon’s efforts to advise far-right political parties around the world. Today, Bannon can claim all he likes about wanting to destroy Epstein’s myths, but he not only bought into them but also sought to assist and protect the sex criminal.

Democratic House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries still refuses to engage with growing calls to abolish ICE, even as the agency is in the nadir of its popularity.

The Left Hook podcast host Wajahat Ali read Jeffries a list of facts when they appeared together Friday on The Joy Reid Show.

“Sixty-five percent of people taken by ICE had no convictions, that’s from the Cato Institute, a right-wing institute. ICE has killed eight people this year alone that we know of.… Over 60 percent of Americans now disapprove of ICE. That means in three weeks, it’s gone from 30 percent to 60 percent,” Ali said. “If you lead on something, people will follow. It seems the wind is behind your back for the first time ever.… You said you wanna rein in ICE.… Why not lead, and say ‘abolish ICE’?”

“What you’re telling us is that you want our taxpayer dollars to pay for a lawless, masked, armed agency to continue terrorizing our cities,” Ali continued. “I’m trying to figure out how you as a leader can be telling Americans that their taxpayer dollars should be going to ICE.”

“I don’t understand anything that you just said,” Jeffries replied curtly.

“I spoke English,” Ali replied.

“I don’t understand anything that you’ve just said to me when I’ve made clear that taxpayer dollars should be used to make life more affordable for the American people, not brutalize or kill them. That’s the whole reason we’re in this fight right now,” Jeffries continued. “That’s the whole reason that DHS is getting ready to shut down.”

While Jeffries is right regarding why DHS is currently (partially) shut down, it will surely reopen. And some are skeptical that the demands of Jeffries and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer are strong enough to stop ICE from committing more harm, or if agents will even abide by them when the moment comes.

Ali again asked Jeffries to take a stance on abolishing ICE.

“I’m gonna use the language that I wanna use; you can use the language that you wanna use. And the language that I’m using right now relates to these type of bold, meaningful, dramatic changes that are designed to save lives right now.”

Can asking ICE agents to wear body cameras and not detain U.S. citizens (which is already illegal) really be described as “bold, meaningful, dramatic” change?

“I think Wajahat Ali was clear. He acknowledges the current fight, but asks Representative Jeffries to lead on the long term goal of abolishing ICE,” one liberal user shared on X. “I don’t understand the leader’s reticence on that very simple, and frankly moderate, position.”

Donald Trump’s White House is posting about President’s Day in the creepiest way possible.

In honor of the holiday, the White House Monday posted a menacing picture of Trump accompanied by the quote: “I was the hunted, and now I’m the hunter.”

That particular cliche comes from an unwieldy interview with NewsNation’s Katie Pavlich last month, where Trump offered a strange description of the difference between his first and second terms in office. “In a way, I was the hunted, and now I’m more of the hunter,” Trump said.

The president went on to claim he’d been “hunted by these horrible people,” and openly bragged about getting revenge on his perceived political enemies.

Revenge is a major part of the grievance-fueled Trump presidency. The president reportedly holds daily meetings with Department of Justice staffers to discuss his ongoing plots against individuals like former Special Counsel Jack Smith, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, and New York Attorney General Letitia James. However, publicly announcing one’s intention to seek revenge is actually very bad for winning court cases.

The White House’s declaration that Trump has transformed into a “hunter” comes as his administration has resoundingly failed to go after any of Jeffrey Epstein’s alleged co-conspirators. It’s not so much that they’re missing shots but that they’re refusing to take any.

But if you ask some women, Trump was always a predator—and the White House knows it too.

Former Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene is blasting the MAGA right for alienating women from the Republican Party.

The MAGA loyalist turned Trump critic called out influencers on the right on Sunday for “mocking the seriousness of women who were trafficked and raped as teenagers and young women,” saying they “look like cult fools.”

“Good luck trying to get women to vote for Republicans in the midterms you insensitive clowns. The Republican Party already has a woman voting problem,” Greene wrote on X. “Keep mocking those of us who take rape and pedophilia seriously and demand accountability for corruption.”

As the government has released more files related to Jeffrey Epstein, many on the MAGA right have sought to defend the Trump administration by attacking Epstein’s victims or minimizing his crimes. It’s ironic that Trump’s base once embraced the QAnon conspiracy theory of a cabal of deep-state pedophiles running the government, with Trump as a crusader against them.

The revelations that Donald Trump was closer to Epstein than he let on, and that his advisers, from Steve Bannon to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, were too, has divided MAGA. White nationalist influencer Nick Fuentes, for example, has called out the Trump administration for lying and engaging “in a cover-up which failed.” Other MAGA influencers are now openly calling for Attorney General Pam Bondi’s resignation.

But Republican leaders such as House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune have continued to back the president. Bondi’s flippant dismissal of Epstein survivors during her Senate testimony last week has already become a damning indictment of the Trump administration’s complete disregard for Epstein’s victims, and by extension, women who have suffered from sexual assault.

Attorney General Pam Bondi claims that the Trump administration has released all of the government’s files on Jeffrey Epstein—but a new analysis suggests that they’ve published only 2 percent.

In emails reviewed by Channel 4 News, federal investigators discussed the massive amount of data that had been seized from Epstein’s properties, including his home in Palm Beach, Florida, his townhouse in New York City, and of course, “pedophile island”—also known as Howard Lutnick’s favorite family vacation spot.

“We expect the data to be somewhere around 20-40 [terabytes],” one investigator wrote in an email dated June 2020, noting that the total capacity of the devices seized from Epstein’s properties was around 40 to 50 terabytes.

In another email dated March 2025, an investigator suggested that there was “a total of approximately 14.6 Terabytes of archived data to unpack.” That would be equivalent to roughly 15,000 gigabytes

So, how many gigabytes of data did the Department of Justice eventually release? Only 300 gigabytes—or just 2 percent of the data investigators had previously discussed.

In a letter to lawmakers Saturday, Bondi claimed that the government had “released all ‘records, documents, communications and investigative materials’” related to Epstein. She also claimed that no records were withheld “on the basis of embarrassment, reputational harm, or political sensitivity,” and included a ludicrous list of 130 “politically exposed persons,” which included multiple dead celebrities.