Steve Bannon defended his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein on Monday, telling the New York Instances that their “seemingly chummy” relations had been strictly associated to his unreleased documentary on the late intercourse legal.
As for why the far-right media determine didn’t press Epstein over 12 hours of interviews on his remedy of girls — and particularly on his 2008 jail sentence for soliciting and procuring a minor for prostitution and the mounting trafficking allegations in opposition to him on the time of these interviews — a spokesperson stated Bannon merely hadn’t gotten to that but.
“Mr. Bannon didn’t ask Mr. Epstein immediately about his remedy of girls … His spokesman stated Mr. Bannon didn’t get deeper into that matter in 12 hours of interviews however deliberate to handle it in a while,” the Instances wrote of the interview recordings.
Elsewhere of their interviews, Bannon did ask Epstein if he had mirrored on the circumstances of his 2008 arrest.
“No,” the financier replied. “I’d simply say how unusual that this occurs.”
Bannon’s spokesperson additionally denied that Bannon media skilled Epstein as he confronted heightened scrutiny round his intercourse crimes, regardless of textual content messages arranging plans to stage mock interviews for such trainings. In addition they denied that Bannon accepted lavish perks of their friendship similar to use of Epstein’s non-public jet, residence and medical care, regardless of textual content messages and itinerary data indicating that he had.
Of the three million pages of Epstein-related information made public earlier this month, Bannon’s identify seems practically on daily basis within the six months main as much as Epstein’s arrest in July 2019, the Instances report. However Bannon’s camp maintained they had been simply texting to put the groundwork for his or her ongoing documentary.
In a direct assertion, Bannon instructed the Instances his relationship with Epstein was strictly skilled and that his years-in-the-making mission would “destroy the very myths he created.”
“I’m a filmmaker and TV host with many years of expertise interviewing controversial figures,” Bannon stated. “That’s the one lens by way of which these non-public communications needs to be considered — a documentary filmmaker working, over a time frame, to safe 50 hours of interviews from a reclusive topic.”
The Bannon spokesperson stated the documentary might be launched later this yr.
