Newly unsealed U.S. Department of Justice files from late January 2026 include 2018-2019 messages between Jeffrey Epstein and Steve Bannon discussing responses to domestic unrest, a private border wall project, funding European populists, and efforts to target Pope Francis.
Bannon bragged about the wall near El Paso that got him charged and arrested, and declared he would ‘take down [Pope] Francis’. He asked Epstein for his support with traditionalist Catholic groups amid shared criticisms of the pope’s stances. The exchanges reveal Epstein’s expansive political connections.
However, they show no new evidence against figures like Donald Trump. Epstein was mostly a Democrat problem, and Trump is the most innocent.
Getting back to Steve Bannon, he said the best way to quell domestic upheaval is to start a war.
That is one approach, which I doubt Donald Trump would use. He doesn’t follow Bannon’s advice and fired him from the White House during his first term.
The bigger story is that there is no story against Donald Trump in Epstein’s files, and Democrats knew that. They will say anything to win.
Bannon is a podcaster. He plotted to take down Pope Francis, but he didn’t, and couldn’t. Epstein was going to make a film about the Pope. It didn’t happen.
He talks for a living. So do a lot of people. Bannon was bloviating, and it went nowhere.
