Steve Bannon arrives for a memorial service for slain conservative commentator Charlie Kirk at State Farm Stadium, in Glendale, Arizona, U.S., September 21, 2025. REUTERS/Carlos Barria
ABC News Chief Washington Correspondent Jonathan Karl said MAGA firebrand Steve Bannon was communicating with President Donald Trump even as he sat in jail for contempt of Congress.
In his new book "Retribution," Karl reports Bannon managed to discreetly keep in touch with Trump and his camp during his 2024 prison stay through a "coded" system that allowed his daughter and top aide to pass along messages to Trump through the monitored email system he was allowed in prison.
"Bannon claims that an investigative officer at Danbury — an official he described as 'pure MAGA' — had warned him that his communications were being reviewed by 'Main Justice,' otherwise known as the Biden administration,” Karl wrote, according to ABC News.
"So he developed a coded system to let 'the girls' know which messages were to be passed on to Trump or to those around him, in particular the aide Boris Epshteyn: 'I had just a system to get to Boris, kind of in quasi-code, through [daughter Maureen] into [aide Grace Chong],' he said. Was there literally a code word? 'Well, we had — ' he began, before catching himself. 'I don’t — the Bureau of Prisons could go back through it. We had a way that they could get to him,'" Karl writes.
Karl reports Bannon remained an influence on Trump’s presidency after he was released from prison, and he was likely a source of Trump’s hostility toward Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at a controversial meeting earlier this year.
“In his book, Karl reported on a meeting of Trump's national security team shortly before Zelenskyy's visit to Washington in February where Trump stopped the meeting and asked then-national security adviser Michael Waltz to ‘get Steve Bannon’ on the phone,” ABC reports.
"Hey, Steve, I’ve got the boys here," Trump said. "I’m going to put you on speaker."
“Trump, keeping Bannon on speakerphone for half an hour, had the MAGA firebrand make his case to the national security team against the deal, and Zelenskyy, who he referred to as ‘that punk,’" according to ABC News.
“I f—— hate it," Bannon said, arguing that the deal "ties us to Ukraine."
"If that punk comes here, he’s going to want a security guarantee,” Bannon said of Zelenskyy to Trump and his top advisers. He told the group they "can’t trust Zelenskyy" or "any of the Europeans."
Karl claims in his book that the previously unreported conversation set the tone for Trump’s combative meeting in the Oval Office with Zelenskyy, which crumbled into a shouting match in front of reporters and international viewers.
“You’re not acting at all thankful,” Trump said to the Ukrainian leader, in contradiction of Zelenskyy thanking the U.S. profusely for weaponry and aid to defend itself against its Russian aggressor. Trump also accused Zelenskyy of “gambling with World War III,” despite Russia invading Ukraine in 2022.
Read the ABC News report at this link.