Former White House chief strategist and longtime MAGA loyalist Steve Bannon has called on President Donald Trump to appoint a special prosecutor to release all government files related to the disgraced financier and pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
Why It Matters
Bannon is part of the growing chorus of MAGA supporters who are speaking out against the Department of Justice and the FBI after the DOJ put out a memo saying Epstein died by suicide in 2019 in his Manhattan jail cell, confirming the findings of federal and local investigators.
The memo infuriated some of Trump’s MAGA base, which has spent years peddling conspiracy theories about the government covering up an extensive list of powerful pedophiles to protect wealthy politicians and businesspeople.
Though Bannon and other high-profile MAGA followers have spared the president their ire, they’ve taken aim at the DOJ and FBI, led by the longtime Trump loyalists Pam Bondi and Kash Patel, respectively.
What To Know
Bannon this week said the president should go around Bondi, Patel and other senior DOJ and FBI leaders to release the full and unredacted Epstein documents.
“They have to go to the court and demand and unseal the sealed evidence in Epstein,” Bannon said on his “War Room” podcast on Thursday. “It starts there.”
“Bundle everything together. You’ve got sealed and unsealed and release it all,” Bannon added. “Or, which I called for yesterday, appoint a special prosecutor—he should appoint a special prosecutor, a special counsel now for the 2020 election and everything after that and include Russiagate and all this. You have to do that. That should be done immediately.”
“Russiagate” is a reference to the FBI’s investigation into whether Russia interfered in the 2016 election and whether the Trump campaign conspired with Moscow to swing the election in his favor.
The former White House chief strategist’s comments on Thursday’s “War Room” podcast came after Elon Musk, Trump’s former longtime ally turned critic, suggested without providing evidence that Bannon is named in the Epstein files.
Reporters also pressed Trump administration officials this week about the DOJ’s memo and how it contradicted Bondi’s previous statement that a so-called Epstein “client list” was “sitting on my desk” and waiting to be reviewed.
“Are you still talking about Jeffrey Epstein?” Trump said when a reporter asked about the memo at a televised Cabinet meeting on Tuesday, during which administration officials talked about the devastating floods in Texas over July 4 weekend. “This guy’s been talked about for years. You’re asking—we have Texas. We have this. We have all of the things. And are people still talking about this guy, this creep?”
“Do you want to waste the time,” he asked, adding: “I mean I can’t believe you’re asking a question on Epstein at a time like this, where we’re having some of the greatest success and also tragedy with what happened in Texas. It just seems like a desecration.”
What People Are Saying
Infowars host Alex Jones, who has espoused Epstein-related conspiracy theories for years, said on his show this week: “This is over the top sickening. Next they’ll say Jeffrey Epstein never even existed. This is the swamp winning. No one is buying this.”
Far-right influencer Laura Loomer said during a livestream: “Pam Bondi is a coward. She didn’t even sign her name to the memo. This isn’t transparency — it’s a cover-up.”
This is a breaking news story. Updates to follow.
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