The Epstein files show not only how he abused women and girls while mixing with powerful people, but also how he tried to influence politics in Europe.
Dozens of documents released by the US department of justice show how US president Donald Trump’s former advisor Steve Bannon sought to secure Jeffrey Epstein’s support and funding to strengthen far-right parties in Europe.
According to the published materials, Epstein and Bannon regularly exchanged views on political developments – at times seriously, at others using lewd humour.
They wrote to each other frequently throughout 2018 and 2019, up until Epstein’s death. In one message, Epstein jokes that he is the “highest-paid guide in history” for Bannon.
When Bannon was traveling, Epstein often offered him assistance. In March 2018, for example, Bannon was in Paris; Epstein wanted to invite him over and even sent him the door code. Ultimately, however, Bannon opted for a hotel due to time constraints. They met only for coffee.
Influence and EU elections
Bannon wrote to Epstein in one of their conversations that, ahead of the European Parliament elections, he was focusing on raising money for Marine Le Pen and Matteo Salvini—two populist politicians in France and Italy, respectively.
The messages originated primarily from 2018 and 2019, following Trump’s dismissal of Bannon as his advisor.
The documents detail Bannon’s travels across Europe as he attempted to create a movement in the European Parliament aimed at uniting far-right and eurosceptic parties from multiple states.
According to the files, Bannon boasted to Epstein about the significant influence he already wielded over the “new” right in Europe.
He mentioned advising Marine Le Pen’s National Rally , Matteo Salvini’s Italian League, the Swiss, Hungary’s prime minister Viktor Orbán, and British populist politician Nigel Farrage.
“We can go from 92! seats to 200 [sic],” Bannon exulted before the EU elections in 2019. It would be possible to “kill any crypto rules or anything we want,” he wrote further.
In the case of Germany, the files revealed exchanges of messages between Epstein and Bannon in which they praised the far-right party Alternative for Germany (AfD).
They expressed themselves derisively regarding German politics and former chancellor Angela Merkel; in the case of the Merkel, they disparaged her with a photograph intended to discredit her.
An Alternative for Germany election poster [More Education, Less Ideology!] in Berlin (Photo: EUobserver/Matthew tempest)
‘Merkel and Macron next‘
Several German-language media outlets drew attention to a conversation between the two men from 24 May 2019.
At that time, British prime minister Theresa May announced that she would step down as leader of the Conservative Party and subsequently from the post of British prime minister.
“Thera May resigns. Good job [sic],” Epstein wrote to Bannon.
Although Bannon did not cause May’s resignation, her departure marked the end of a prominent representative of the political establishment, which in Bannon’s eyes signified success.
On the day May announced her resignation from the leadership of the British government, Bannon was brimming with enthusiasm.
“May down, Merkel, and Macron on Monday,” Bannon responded. He was likely referring to the European Parliament elections, which took place from 23 to 26 May 2019.
According to Bannon, the former German chancellor and the French president likewise represented liberal, pro-European politics.
Merkel will be thrown out, Bannon continued confidently. “AfD 12 to 13”, he wrote, by which he likely meant the party’s preferences at the time or was predicting a desired election result.
“Yup,” Epstein replied.
In another message, Bannon writes to Epstein on a Sunday evening about “D-Day” and gradually sends him the first election projections. “Fingers crossed,” Epstein replies.
At this time, Bannon also met with politicians from the AfD, such as its chairs Alice Weidel and Tino Chrupalla.
Centre-right MP Johannes Volkmann (CDU) considers the chats an indication of American influence on the AfD.
“Bannon, through his consultancy work for the AfD and others, wanted influence over European cryptocurrency regulation,” he wrote on X.
“It is surely just a coincidence that AfD MEPs in the European Parliament voted against the regulation in the following parliamentary term,” Volkmann added.
The AfD denies that the American ever directed them.
“Steve Bannon never had any influence on our party, and certainly not on the issue of cryptocurrencies,” the AfD parliamentary group said to Euronews. According to them, a consultancy relationship never existed.
Hatred towards Merkel
Just as is common today within the MAGA camp in the US and partially within the White House, Bannon perceived the European Union as an enemy and Merkel as the embodiment of “globalist institutions” – a view shared by European far-right circles.
In another conversation with an individual whose identity is redacted in the files, Bannon expressed hope the German chancellor would soon “end up under the bus.”
The materials released by the US department of justice also contain news intelligence newsletters and emails in which Epstein inquired about German politics.
One email states that there would certainly still be people in Germany “who would prefer Adolf Hitler over Angela Merkel.” At the same time, however, it adds that today one can no longer find any prominent politicians in Germany who would still “praise the nobility of the Nazis.”
Epstein was also interested in the question of succession to the German chancellor — perhaps because, like Bannon, he saw an opportunity for a political shift in a leadership change within an established party.
On 28 May 2019, Epstein forwarded a Bloomberg article to two contacts concerning Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, then-chairwoman of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), whom some viewed as a potential future chancellor.
The Bloomberg text stated that Merkel increasingly doubted whether Kramp-Karrenbauer was suitable for the office. Approximately six months later, on 10 February 2020, the CDU leader announced that she was withdrawing her candidacy for chancellor in 2021.
At the same time, she also resigned from her position as CDU chairwoman.
Epstein was also interested in the question of succession to the German chancellor (Photo:s_zeimke)
Merkel ski injury
Epstein also occasionally took an interest in the private person of Merkel. On 6 January 2014, he forwarded a message to a contact regarding a skiing accident in Switzerland and the pelvic fracture the chancellor had sustained.
The daily Neue Zürcher Zeitung assumes that it was not a matter of him being concerned about the health of Europe’s most powerful politician at the time.
On 14 April 2013, he received a message from a Dubai businessman, Sultan bin Sulayem. It contained a black-and-white photograph of three women walking along a pier.
In the original image, the women are naked; in the released Epstein documents, the upper parts of the bodies and heads are redacted, presumably by the US Department of Justice.
“Chancellor Merkel in her youth!”, bin Sulayem wrote alongside it. Although the photograph is authentic and has been repeatedly associated with the former chancellor, none of the women in the image is Merkel.
The messages Epstein exchanged with his numerous contacts say much about the tone and mode of thinking within the environment in which he moved.
Established politicians, even heads of government, appear in them as pawns in a game. They are mocked, and their political defeat is expected.
Focus on Salvini
Bannon specifically focused on shaping European politics through Salvini, the Italian deputy prime minister and leader of the far-right League party, who was at the peak of his political power at the time.
Italian opposition parties this week called on Salvini to clarify whether Epstein influenced the rise of the League in any way, after Salvini’s name appeared multiple times in messages exchanged between Bannon and Epstein.
The messages also mention Bannon’s meeting with Salvini in Milan in March 2018, just days after the Italian parliamentary elections, which resulted in the formation of a government between the League and the populist Five Star Movement [Hnutie piatich hviezd].
Bannon met with Salvini again in Italy in September of the same year, when the League joined his anti-European organization, The Movement. But by the following summer, Salvini found himself in opposition after collapsing the government in a failed attempt to trigger early elections.
According to The Guardian, there is no evidence that Epstein financed the League – which returned to government in 2022 as an ally in prime minister Giorgia Meloni’s coalition – nor any other European far-right parties.
Bannon declined to comment on the messages included in the latest Epstein files.