By 2017 Jeffrey Epstein was a social pariah.
Even his right-hand woman, Ghislaine Maxwell, attempted to reinvent herself as a charity boss and was careful to no longer be pictured with the convicted sex offender.
But as an avalanche of reports uncovered more lurid details of Epstein’s world of questionable financial dealings and proclivities for sex with underage girls, he had one regular visitor at his huge townhouse at East 71st street — Steve Bannon.
Conspiracy theorist and media provocateur Bannon felt he could help the disgraced money man improve his image, sources say, despite how laughable that may have seemed.
It certainly didn’t hurt that Epstein could add him to his payroll — Bannon had recently fallen foul of President Trump by criticizing his family in a book and abruptly left his position as chief strategist at the White House. This resulted in his deep-pocketed benefactors cutting him off.
Bannon ultimately collected some 15 hours of footage of Epstein, to prepare him to go on “60 Minutes” or another prime-time television show to save his reputation in 2018.
“He told me he has like 15 or 16 hours of videotape of Jeff,” said Epstein’s brother Mark in an interview with NBC earlier this month, adding he had met with Bannon after Epstein’s death and asked to see the tapes. “He was trying to help Jeff rehabilitate his reputation.”
Previous reports have confirmed the tapes were of Epstein preparing to bolster his reputation, but in the clamor to release government files on Epstein — who was found hanging in his Manhattan prison cell in August 2019 as he awaited trial over sex trafficking charges — many are wondering why Bannon has not been compelled to release the tapes.
In a bid to hype up what he has, earlier this year Bannon was hawking the tapes as a documentary, saying he had hoped to get Netflix involved and call the show “The Monster”.
“[Epstein’s] a product of the elite,” he said on the Jimmy Dore show in February. “Everything that’s been put out about him is not exactly the truth. I hours of interviews that I think will be pretty shocking, about how this guy came from nowhere to go to the absolute highest levels of global elite and who he knew and who he financed.
“He was one of the leading underwriters of scientific experiments in the world, a lot of that is dealing with a thing called Transhumanism.”
Bannon did not return The Post’s request for comment Friday.
Only one clip of the footage has ever been released, which was obtained by The Post.
In the video Epstein somewhat unbelievably claimed to be a “firm believer and supporter” of Time’s Up, the anti-sexual harassment organization that emerged during the #MeToo movement.
“I made my living from old thinking. But the future is for the way women think,” says Epstein in the clip.
Bannon – apparently playing the role of a hard-nosed interviewer – counters from off-screen that Epstein’s claim was just “a sop” to excuse “all of the depravity you’ve done against young women.”
“No, I’ve been — I’ve always believed that women will be, in fact, be able to take over,” Epstein responds in the clip, adding “I’m a firm believer and supporter of ‘Time’s Up.’”
Bannon, a film producer, former investment banker at Goldman Sachs and executive one-time chairman at media company Breitbart, had more in common with Epstein, a former math teacher who also had a brief stint on Wall Street, than most.
Although the first reports of their association only date back to 2017, it is possible they knew each other much longer.
“The War Room” host Bannon’s activities with Epstein have been questioned by other political strategists.
“Why would Bannon meet with Jeffrey Epstein both at his New York home and in Paris after Epstein was convicted on sex crimes in Florida?” said Roger Stone in an X post earlier this month. “Why would he coach Epstein for his 60 minutes appearance?”
Darren Indyke, Epstein’s longtime personal attorney and an executor of his estate, did not return a request for comment Friday.
The post Inside Jeffrey Epstein’s cozy relationship with Steve Bannon — and what’s really on his 15 hrs of tapes interviewing him appeared first on New York Post.
