One major Jeffrey Epstein connection is flying under the radar: analysis

Before he was accused of sex trafficking of minors, disgraced billionaire financier Jeffrey Epstein interacted with a long list of prominent figures — from now-President Donald Trump to former President Bill Clinton to economist and former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers.

That isn't to say that all the politicians, bankers and economists who knew Epstein were actually involved in his crimes in any way. Michael Cohen, Trump's former personal attorney and fixer and now a scathing critic of the president, told MS NOW (formerly MSNBC) that when he was working for the Trump Organization, he "never heard Jeffrey Epstein on the phone or even call into the office."

But as pressure for the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) to release its Epstein files rages on, questions remain on who knew what and when.

In an article published by The Bulwark on November 30, Never Trump conservative Mona Charen — a veteran columnist who worked as a speechwriter in the Reagan White House during the 1980s — examines Epstein's connection to Steve Bannon, host of the "War Room" vodcast and former White House chief strategist in the first Trump Administration.

"If you followed the twists and turns of the Jeffrey Epstein saga over the last few weeks," Charen explains, "you already know that several prominent names emerged from the tranche of e-mails that the Epstein estate released…. It's important to stress that Summers is not accused of any immoral or illegal conduct with underage girls, but he did betray a callous indifference to immoral and illegal conduct. Summers maintained a chummy relationship with Epstein years after Epstein had been convicted of soliciting underage prostitution, which is mind-boggling."

Charen adds, "I hate snap judgments, but in this case, I find it impossible to imagine what the innocent explanation could be. Nor has Summers offered one…. And the consequences have been swift. Summers has withdrawn from the Center for American Progress, the Yale Budget Lab, the board of directors of Open AI, the Center for Global Development, the Brookings Institution, and the Peterson Institute for International Economics, and has taken a leave of absence from Harvard."

The Never Trumper notes that "there is one big name that has so far received very little attention" for his connection to Epstein: Bannon.

"Trump's consigliere, strategist, propagandist, and former senior counselor at the White House was on very friendly terms with Jeffrey Epstein," Charen observes. "He exchanged hundreds of e-mails with the convicted felon and conspired to whitewash his public image. Do you have friends who can send a private jet to retrieve you when your flight has been delayed? Epstein apparently did that for Bannon in 2018. On a trip to Great Britain, Bannon was greeted by protests. He e-mailed Epstein: 'Protesters slowed down speech don't think I can make the flight we r enroute to heathrow.' Epstein replied that he could fix it."

Charen notes that e-mails "suggest that Bannon and Epstein often met in person, though, as Epstein's case drew more attention in 2018 and 2019, they took precautions."

Released e-mails, the former Reagan White House speechwriter observes, "show that one of those who was working most closely with Epstein, up to and including attempting to scrub his public image, was Bannon himself."

"Steve Bannon, the man millions of MAGA fans trust to tell it like it is, stands revealed as one of the most cynical liars ever to mar this country. Where are the firings and denunciations? Where is Turning Point USA, the White House, Speaker Johnson? Where are all the MAGA faithful who claimed to believe or did believe in the vast conspiracy among elites to abuse children? And where, finally, is Bannon's acknowledgment of wrongdoing? Where is his shame? Of these two men, the less guilty has acknowledged wrongdoing and been harshly punished while the more guilty man sails on without a backward glance. It's a travesty."

Mona Charen's full article for The Bulwark is available at this link.