Editor’s Note: This headline has been updated.
Far-right firebrand Steve Bannon once said that “Epstein is a key that picks the lock on so many things." Now he has gone quiet.
CNN reported Friday that after being found extensively throughout the files, he's suddenly stopped talking about the topic.
"It’s similar to an approach Bannon once suggested for Epstein as allegations about the financier’s sex crimes resurfaced," the report observed. "In February 2019, Epstein said in a text message he would like 'true facts out.' Bannon replied, 'you should just want this to go away.'"
Epstein wanted to go public, but Bannon warned against it.
“Have you lost your f—— mind,” he wrote, “the moment you say ANYTHING this is global story [number 1].”
CNN noted that, in a statement to the New York Times, Bannon said he was simply "filming a documentary" about Epstein. Six years after Epstein's death, however, that "documentary" has never been released. The hours and hours of footage haven't been subpoenaed by Congress either.
It suggests that Bannon is adopting the strategy of staying quiet, lying low and hoping it all goes away. But the Epstein files aren't going away. After spending nearly a decade talking about a conspiracy trafficking ring of the rich and famous, the QAnon crowd isn't letting it go.
“Democrats know Epstein’s black book is a ticking time bomb. That’s why they’ve switched their focus to affordability,” Bannon once said in a July War Room episode.
Ironically, CNN noted, Bannon "has long trained his audience to distrust convenient explanations." One of his favorite phrases is “There are no conspiracies but there are no coincidences.”
Former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) has spoken out against male MAGA, which she said is not only downplaying the files but also outright mocking the survivors of trafficking and abuse. On Bannon, she maintains, “There is no excuse for having such a friendly relationship with Epstein, post conviction."
While President Donald Trump's ally, Laura Loomer, attacked Greene over her comments, Loomer told CNN that Bannon should be “100 percent forthcoming” about his Epstein ties. She also called it “a bit hypocritical” for Bannon to spend so much time pressing for the files to be released only for him to go silent once many of them were.
Another top Trump ally and former national security advisor, Michael Flynn, agreed, writing on X that he needs to explain some things. Flynn was specifically responding to a 2018 text message between Bannon and Epstein in which Bannon says that the 25th Amendment could be used to get Trump out of office. The comment became public as Trump's mental fitness continues to be questioned.
