How Trump ally Steve Bannon's 15 hours of 'secret Epstein tapes' could be made public

Daily Mail​

3 days ago

As journalists and internet sleuths pour over details of the life of disgraced financier and convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, more details are emerging over the mysterious tapes of an series of interviews with former President Donald Trump 's campaign chief and White House advisor Steve Bannon.
The details of the video interview were revealed by author Michael Wolff in 2021, who said that Bannon emerged as a kind of media coach for Epstein and captured interview footage he claimed was 'training' for the disgraced luminary who was looking for a comeback.
Bannon reportedly recorded more than 15 hours of video, Wolff revealed, even as he disputed that he was acting as a media coach for Epstein and instead working on a documentary.
Wolff said he obtained transcripts of the Bannon interviews of Epstein for his book, 'Too Famous: The Rich, the Powerful, the Wishful, the Notorious, the Damned.'
Now Wolff is sharing further details of the transcripts and the tapes, which he says were recorded in Epstein's massive Manhattan townhouse.
'There's no question the tapes were media training,' he told The Hollywood Reporter. 'And there's no possible way Epstein would have signed off on them being used in a documentary.'
The tapes could someday be released as part of an Epstein documentary that Bannon says he is working on.
In March, Bannon told comedian Jimmy Dore on his show that he was working on a 'multi-part' documentary series for Netflix or some other video platform.
'The working title is 'The Monster,'' Bannon said, teasing that it would be 'pretty shocking about how this guy came from nowhere to the absolute highest level of the global elite.'
'It's a project I'm working on with my filmmaking team,' he said.
Bannon said the enterprise was work in progress and that it would focus on the Epstein's mysterious case.
'I don't think there was any doubt he was taken out, I think he was murdered or executed however you want to say, I have no belief that he killed himself,' Bannon said.
Wolff said that Bannon and Epstein frequently spoke and exchanged emails and spent time together in New York City at his apartment.
For years now, the internet has buzzed about the existence of the Epstein tapes in Bannon's possession and what it could reveal about his motivations prior to his July 2019 arrest and subsequent prosecution.
Political strategist Roger Stone has repeatedly called for Bannon to release the tapes.
'Steve has evidently done a documentary about him. I'd like to see that documentary,' Stone said in an interview with Benny Johnson of The Benny Show. 'Steve should release that audio and video immediately.'
If Congress gets involved, they could potentially release a subpoena to force Bannon to release the tapes.
Florida Rep. Anna Paulina Luna also encouraged Bannon to release the footage.
'I'd be very interested in seeing that footage and I think the American people would be too,' she said at a Turning Point USA summit of conservative activists in July.
Wolff speculated that Bannon might not have the rights to the footage, which is why it had not been released.
Bannon did not respond to a Daily Mail request for comment, but continues pressing the truth about the Epstein files, blaming Attorney General Pam Bondi for messing up the administration's handling of the case.
Bannon has also warned that the Republican party would pay dearly politically if they did not release the truth about Epstein.
'For this to go away, you're going to lose 10 percent of the MAGA movement. If we lose 10 percent of the MAGA movement right now, we're going to lose 40 seats in (the midterms), we're going to lose the presidency,' he told activists gathered at the Turning Point USA summit.
The future of Bannon's documentary remains unclear as the level of interest surrounding Epstein has reached fever-pitch after the Justice Department released a memo stating there was no record of a 'client list' in the Epstein files and no evidence of foul play in Epstein's death.
In 2021, Bannon teased a section of the interview where Epstein says he is a supporter of the Time's Up movement, where women campaigned against sexual harassment.