WASHINGTON — In 2021, the New York Post ran an online trailer of an upcoming documentary about Jeffrey Epstein that was produced by former Trump adviser Steve Bannon. In the video, Bannon is on camera questioning Epstein about “all of the depravity you’ve done against young women,” among other things.
But that documentary never came out. Now, Jeffrey Epstein’s brother, Mark, is asking for Bannon to show him the unseen footage.
“Let me see the videotapes,” he told NBC News on Friday. “He’s my brother.”
Mark Epstein said that Bannon, the MAGA media personality, worked with his brother, then a convicted sex offender, after the Miami Herald in 2018 chronicled victims’ details of abuse by Jeffrey Epstein. The two men filmed together before Epstein’s arrest by federal authorities in the summer of 2019.
“He told me he has like 15 or 16 hours of videotape of Jeff. He was trying to help Jeff rehabilitate his reputation,” Mark Epstein said of Bannon. He said his meeting and conversation with Bannon took place in New York City after his brother’s death in prison — in either 2019 or 2020.
“They spent a lot of time together,” Mark Epstein told NBC News.
Bannon is not accused of any wrongdoing and was never publicly part of any investigation into Epstein.
Bannon did not return a request for comment.
NBC News viewed Bannon entering Jeffrey Epstein’s New York residence on one occasion in late 2018.
“When I met with Bannon, he said he wanted to put a documentary or something together. He was trying to raise some money for it,” said Mark Epstein, who says he has not heard from Bannon since then.
Business Insider first spoke with Mark Epstein in 2023 about his brother’s death and Bannon’s apparent documentary footage.
Bannon has a central place in the MAGA movement. A populist who played a key role in Trump’s political rise, he now hosts the popular “War Room” podcast. He has been advocating for the Trump administration to appoint a special counsel to look into the Epstein case.
In the trailer for “The Monsters: Epstein’s Life Among the Global Elite,” published by the New York Post, Jeffrey Epstein said he was a “firm believer and supporter” of the Time’s Up organization, which worked to combat sexual harassment. Bannon — who has a background as a Hollywood producer and a documentary filmmaker — is also seen asking Epstein whether he owns two islands, “the Islands of Doctor Moreau,” to which Epstein replies, “Correct.”
Bannon acknowledged the footage during a live taping of his podcast on July 12 and said that he intends to release at least parts of its contents “early next year.”
“We’re going to release the film, the five-part series next year — early next year,” Bannon said in response to a questioner about the documentary’s future.
“You’re going to have to name names, and you’re going to have to understand how the elites of the world but also the intelligence services are inextricably linked in the Epstein story,” he added. “That’s the key.”
Conservative commentator Ben Shapiro this week criticized Bannon for not releasing the footage.
“So, release the Epstein tapes, Steve,” Shapiro said. “I mean, like, seriously. More transparency is gooder. How about that? It seems like it makes sense to me.”
During the taping of his podcast “War Room” on Friday, Bannon called for Attorney General Pam Bondi to seek the release of “all the sealed evidence” related to the Epstein investigation.
“They should petition to release all the sealed evidence, right? And then there’s much more they can do, but start with that,” Bannon said.
In 2021, The New York Times said that Bannon had confirmed that he had recorded more than 15 hours of interviews with Jeffrey Epstein. He said the film was meant to illustrate how Epstein’s “perversions and depravity toward young women were part of a life that was systematically supported, encouraged and rewarded by a global establishment that dined off his money and his influence.”
Jeffrey Epstein died in prison in August 2019. The medical examiner ruled his death a suicide by hanging. But the circumstances around his death have long been fodder for many on the far right, who have pushed the conspiracy that “Epstein didn’t kill himself.”
Mark Epstein told NBC News that he now has doubts about the official explanation.
“My concern is that my brother was killed,” he said, adding, “More and more, I believe he was murdered, and everyone who looks at all the information that’s out there on facts comes to the same conclusion, correct?”
In May on Fox Business, FBI Director Kash Patel — who stoked Epstein conspiracy theories before joining the administration — said that the bureau had determined that Epstein took his own life.
“You know a suicide when you see one, and that’s what that was,” Patel said at the time.
Mark Epstein called Patel a “f—ing moron” for his assessment.
He said that Bannon sent a Dropbox link of one interview clip to Jeffrey Epstein, who, in turn, sent it to his brother. Mark said that the link to that footage has expired.
