Newly released Justice Department files expose a stream of private text messages and emails between Steve Bannon and Jeffrey Epstein spanning from late 2017 through July 2019, the month Epstein was arrested.

The communications show Bannon discussing the possibility of invoking the 25th Amendment to remove President Donald Trump from office and, separately, coaching Epstein on how to fight the sex trafficking allegations that were closing in on him, Newsmax reported.

The documents land like a grenade in the middle of the MAGA universe, and the shrapnel is already flying.

The 25th Amendment exchange

On New Year's Eve 2018, with Democrats days away from retaking the House, Bannon texted Epstein that the "WH" had "zero plan to punch back." Epstein responded about Trump:

"He is really borderline. Not sure what he may do."

Bannon's reply removed all ambiguity:

"I think it's beyond borderline — 25 amendment"

He added: "we really need an intervention."

The 25th Amendment allows the vice president and a majority of the Cabinet to remove a president deemed unfit for office. That a former White House chief strategist was floating this mechanism in private texts with a convicted sex offender is a fact that requires no editorial embellishment. It speaks for itself.

Bannon was reportedly introduced to Epstein in late 2017 by author Michael Wolff, whose explosive 2018 book "Fire and Fury" relied heavily on Bannon as a source. The book itself fueled public discussion about Trump's fitness for office. The timeline is worth noting: Bannon helped light that fire publicly, and these texts suggest he was fanning it privately as well.

The PR architect

The files reveal that Bannon's relationship with Epstein extended far beyond casual acquaintance. By February 2018, Epstein wrote to an associate about Bannon: "We have become friends."

When news broke in early 2019 that federal prosecutors were reviewing the handling of Epstein's 2008 plea deal for soliciting a minor for prostitution, Bannon swung into action. Not as a journalist. Not as a documentary filmmaker. As a crisis communications strategist.

In April 2019, Bannon laid out a three-phase plan via text:

"First we need to push back on the lies; then crush the pedo/trafficking narrative; then rebuild your image as philanthropist."

He followed up with a text acknowledging what they were up against:

"We must counter 'rapist who traffics in female children to be raped by worlds most powerful, richest men' — that can't be redeemed."

When Epstein apparently considered making a public statement about prosecutors reviewing his plea deal, Bannon shut it down in characteristically blunt fashion: "Have you lost your f****** mind." He warned: "The moment you say ANYTHING, this is global story#1!!!!!"

Bannon then arranged what he called "media training" at Epstein's Manhattan townhouse: "Friday afternoon media training @ your place — 2 camera shoot; my crew so totally confidential." Epstein's reply: "trial by fire."

This is not the language of a detached documentarian interviewing a controversial subject. This is the language of an operative running a client's war room.

Planes, watches, and favors

The relationship carried material dimensions as well. In March 2019, Bannon texted from Rome: "Is it possible to get your plane here to collect me?" Days later: "I'm staying with you tonight??" Epstein replied: "Yes stay."

According to the files, Epstein also offered to cover Bannon's medical expenses and sent Bannon and his son Apple watches. A Bannon spokesman said Bannon did not fly on Epstein's jet or use his doctor, though the texts clearly show Bannon requested the plane and discussed staying at Epstein's residences.

Bannon also recommended attorneys to Epstein, referring to William A. Burck and Alex Spiro as "my boys." Both attorneys have said they did not represent Epstein.

Epstein, for his part, seemed to view the relationship with a degree of bemused detachment. In an email to an associate regarding Bannon's financial backers, including Chinese billionaire Guo Wengui, Epstein wrote: "Someone has to fund his nonsenses."

The documentary defense

Bannon's public response routes everything through a single explanation. In a statement to The New York Times, he said:

"I am a filmmaker and TV host with decades of experience interviewing controversial figures. That's the only lens through which these private communications should be viewed — a documentary filmmaker working, over a period of time, to secure 50 hours of interviews from a reclusive subject."

That framing asks you to believe that "crush the pedo/trafficking narrative" and "rebuild your image as philanthropist" are the words of a neutral interviewer preparing questions. It asks you to believe that discussing the 25th Amendment removal of the president you once served is standard pre-interview rapport. It asks you to believe that requesting a convicted sex offender's private jet is part of the documentary process.

The texts don't read like research. They read like a retainer.

The right responds

To their credit, prominent figures on the right have not circled the wagons. Former national security adviser Michael Flynn wrote on X that if "Bannon AND Epstein were behind it, Bannon needs to be brought in for questioning." Former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia was equally direct:

"No excuse for having such a friendly relationship with Epstein, post conviction, 2018-19. None."

This is the correct instinct. The conservative movement spent years demanding the full release of the Epstein files precisely because the network of powerful people surrounding this man deserved exposure. That demand cannot be selectively applied. If the files implicate someone on the left, accountability. If they implicate someone on the right, accountability. The principle is the principle, or it was never a principle at all.

What the files actually show

Strip away the noise, and what remains is straightforward:

• Bannon maintained a personal relationship with a convicted sex offender from late 2017 through Epstein's arrest in July 2019.
• He privately discussed removing the president he had served using a constitutional mechanism designed for incapacity.
• He actively coached Epstein on how to fight sex trafficking allegations in the press and in court.
• He requested the use of Epstein's plane, stayed at his residences, and accepted gifts.
• Epstein's final text to Bannon, sent in July 2019 as he was arrested upon landing in New Jersey, was two words: "All canceled."

The conservative movement has always understood that proximity to power attracts people whose loyalty runs to influence, not to ideas. The Epstein saga is the darkest proof of that truth. These files do not tell us everything about Bannon's relationship with Epstein. But what they do tell us is enough to demand answers that a documentary alibi cannot provide.

Accountability doesn't have a party registration. It shouldn't have one now.