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New documents reveal the breadth of Jeffrey Epstein’s orbit

https://www.politico.com/news/2026/01/30/jeffrey-epstein-files-bannon-musk-00758613

New documents reveal the breadth of Jeffrey Epstein’s orbit

Friday’s document release shows the late convicted sex offender’s vast influence network.

Photo collage of Steve Bannon, Jeffrey Epstein and Elon Musk

Illustration by Claudine Hellmuth/POLITICO (source images via Getty and AP)

By Kyle Cheney01/30/2026 06:30 PM ESTUpdated: 01/30/2026 07:30 PM EST

The Justice Department’s Friday release of its investigative materials related to Jeffrey Epstein is packed with details about his ties to the most powerful figures in politics, tech and global affairs.

The documents shed new light on the depth of his relationships between the convicted sex offender and figures such as Steve Bannon, Elon Musk and world leaders. In particular, the files contain extensive exchanges with Bannon as he mounted a political influence campaign across Europe, and numerous overtures — the unrequited kind — to Musk.

And the documents add new heft to earlier indications that Epstein wielded extraordinary influence for years — even as investigations into his trafficking of young girls had ramped up.

Documents previously released by the Justice Department show that Epstein, who died in jail in 2019, advised and cultivated ties with prominent leaders in Europe, including Russian government officials. He dined with Hollywood elites, CEOs and government officials, often inviting them to his homes and infamous island. And he used a network of relationships with prominent Washington figures to influence the Trump White House as well.

Here’s a look at some of the latest information about Epstein’s orbit from the more than three million pages publicly shared Friday:

Steve Bannon’s ties to Epstein

Epstein’s association with Bannon, a conservative political strategist, is well-documented, but the new tranche of files suggests the relationship between the two men was deeper, chummier and more expansive than previously known.

The documents included thousands of texts between the two men, particularly in 2018 and 2019 — within months of Epstein’s death by suicide in jail — after Bannon had left the Trump White House on rocky terms.

The messages redact Epstein’s name, but the context makes clear that it is the financier doing the talking. He references his plane, his homes, his island and expresses personal umbrage at the trafficking allegations he was facing at that time. And there are numerous emails between Bannon and Epstein, in the same time period, without the same redactions, that reflect their frequent communication.

Bannon did not immediately respond to requests for comment about his relationship with Epstein or new details surfaced in the Friday release. The Justice Department did not respond to requests for comment about the messages.

Bannon has said little publicly about their relationship, but he did previously call for an independent investigation into the files.

The two texted frequently about everything from the TV show “Chernobyl” and a guessing game over who penned the 2018 “anonymous” New York Times op-ed to their efforts to influence international geopolitics — including shaping Europe’s governing coalitions, ramping up pressure on China and forging business ties in the Middle East.

Bannon, at one point, took credit for convincing Trump in 2018 to impose massive tariffs on China, gabbed with Epstein about his “We Build the Wall” endeavor that would later end in a federal indictment and presidential pardon, and gossiped about the latest developments in special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation — in which Bannon was a subject.

Their conversations sometimes veered into locker room humor, in multiple instances at the urging of Epstein, who made sexual jokes including one about female genitalia riffing off something Bannon said.

They also made fun of Trump — with Epstein joking that Trump should be called a “re grifter” not a “regifter” and Bannon in other instances using the moniker “stable genius” to refer to the president and quipping Trump was “out of gas” in reference to an Axios report about his schedule.

The two dined together frequently and Epstein offered Bannon the use of a Paris apartment, Palm Beach house and other accommodations, as well as his plane on multiple occasions. When Epstein helped coordinate other travel for Bannon, the two joked that Epstein was working as Bannon’s assistant and the “most highly paid travel agent in history.” In one instance, Epstein added: “Massages. Not included.”

Bannon, meanwhile, provided media training to Epstein as the two worked on a documentary, advice that extended so far as to counsel him how long to keep his beard. Bannon also coached Epstein as he navigated increasing media scrutiny in the winter of 2019.

Epstein tries to make a plan with Elon Musk

The story of Musk and Epstein appears to be one of unrequited overtures by the late convicted sex offender to the billionaire tech mogul. Emails from 2012 to 2014 show Epstein trying and failing to meet with Musk, with the latter citing schedule conflicts and logistical complications. The communications don’t reflect any actual, in-person meetings between the pair.

Representatives for Musk did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the exchanges. Musk was one of the most prominent voices pushing for the release of the Epstein documents last summer.

“Sorry we didn’t connect,” Epstein wrote to Musk on New Year’s Day in 2013. When he invited Musk to meet him in St. Thomas, Musk replied, “Logistics won’t work this time around.”

Musk wrote to Epstein in April 2013 that he had “no firm plans” to come to the East Coast before Epstein sought to sweeten the invite by mentioning a dinner with Woody Allen. When Epstein followed up later that month to see if Musk’s schedule had crystallized, Musk replied simply “no.”

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The two did have a few substantive exchanges. In October 2012, Epstein referenced Musk’s brother and a “new romance” he had been having. “The world needs more romance,” Musk replied. Musk also told Epstein that he prefers to operate on 6.5 hours of sleep per night for optimal productivity.

That presaged Musk’s warmest exchanges with Epstein. In November 2012, he asked Epstein about attending “the wildest party” on the island that year. A month later, Musk again suggested he wanted to party but worried that Epstein’s island would be too “peaceful” a destination.

“I’ve been working to the edge of sanity this year and so, once my kids head home after Christmas, I really want to hit the party scene in St Barts or elsewhere and let loose,” Musk wrote.

Epstein, referencing Musk’s then wife Talulah Riley, replied that “the ratio on my island might make Talilah [sic] uncomfortable.” “Ratio is not a problem for Talulah,” Musk replied.

The records also show that Musk suggested in February 2013 that Epstein meet him at the SpaceX rocket factory near Long Beach, Calif. Epstein also bailed on a holiday season meeting in 2013.

Epstein’s relationships with world leaders

The newly disclosed documents also fill in details about Epstein’s expansive relationship with foreign leaders — ambassadors, government ministers, former heads of state and international fixers, particularly in Europe in the Middle East.

Epstein used his contacts to facilitate meetings for people like Bannon with European government leaders. He bantered with Slovak politician Miroslav Lajcak about women while discussing Lajcak’s meetings with Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov. He scheduled meetings by email with Thorbjөrn Jagland, the secretary general of the Council of Europe.

Lajcak did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Council of Europe previously declined to comment on Jagland’s reported ties with Epstein. Jagland, the former Norwegian prime minister, previously told a Norwegian public broadcaster: “What has come to light about Jeffrey Epstein’s private life, I strongly distance myself from.”

Epstein’s contact with Lutnick

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick was in contact through email with Epstein about a visit to the convicted sex offender’s Caribbean compound in 2012, according to the documents released Friday by the Justice Department.

Lutnick had previously denied spending time with Epstein after around 2005. But email correspondence between them reflects a closer relationship between the two than previously known — contradicting Lutnick’s claim that they were no longer in contact after that point.

In November 2012, Lesley Groff, a longtime aide for Epstein, reached out to Lutnick to set up a date for the two to meet while Lutnick was in St. Thomas, near Epstein’s home on Little St. James, his private island off the coast. Lutnick and Epstein agreed to a lunch for Sunday, Dec. 23rd. Accompanying Lutnick on vacation were his wife Allison and their four children, along with another couple and their four children.

Emails show Lutnick and his wife coordinating logistics on how to arrive at this island, including where and how to dock their “188 foot yacht” at Little St. James. The day after their scheduled meeting, an Epstein aide passed along a message from Epstein to Lutnick reading, “Nice to see you.”

The Department of Commerce said in a statement Lutnick had “limited interactions” with Epstein.

“This is nothing more than a failing attempt by the legacy media to distract from the administration’s accomplishments including securing Trillions of dollars in investment, delivering historic trade deals, and fighting for the American worker,” the statement said. “Secretary Lutnick had limited interactions with Mr. Epstein in the presence of his wife and has never been accused of wrongdoing.”

When asked about the emails, Lutnick on Friday told The New York Times “I spent zero time with him,” and then hung up.

The newly-uncovered rendezvous with Epstein contradicts Lutnick’s recollection of his relationship to Epstein from last year. Lutnick told the New York Post he previously lived next door to Epstein in New York in 2005. After being invited over to visit, Lutnick said he and his wife observed a massage table in Epstein’s home, where Epstein said he receives “the right kind of massage” on a daily basis.

“My wife and I decided that I will never be in the room with that disgusting person ever again,” Lutnick said in October, recalling visiting Epstein. “So I was never in the room with him socially, for business, or even philanthropy. If that guy was there, I wasn’t going, because he’s gross.”

Aaron Pellish, Megan Messerly and Adam Wren contributed to this report.

E. Jean Carroll Speaks—and She’s Throwing Darts All Across Trumpworld Joe Tacopina was “disgusting.” Alina Habba, “deliciously arrogant.” Plus, what she’ll do with all that money—if Trump ever pays it.

https://newrepublic.com/article/197433/e-jean-carroll-interview-book-trumpworld

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The New Republic

Nina Burleigh

July 7, 2025

THROWING DOWN

E. Jean Carroll Speaks—and She’s Throwing Darts All Across Trumpworld

Joe Tacopina was “disgusting.” Alina Habba, “deliciously arrogant.” Plus, what she’ll do with all that money—if Trump ever pays it.

Stephanie Keith/Getty Images

In the six years since she first wrote that real estate scion Donald Trump slammed her against a wall in the mid-’90s and fingered her in a department store dressing room, E. Jean Carroll has been reduced, as every woman stepping up to charge rape is, to a caricature of sexual essence. Is she pretty? Hot? Rape-able?

“Not my type,” said the president when asked about her story in 2019, even though, in a deposition, shown a photograph of her, he risibly confused her with another ethereal blonde, his own second wife. But reductio ad T&A has always been Trump’s favorite deflection strategy with women, as well as being his old commercial stock in trade: One of the promises he made—and kept—before entering politics was mandating “higher heels and smaller bikinis” for women in his beauty pageants.

Besides Trump’s megaphone for personal insults, Carrol had to confront the “victim” label that is so distorting to a woman’s self-image and that afflicts any woman who accuses a sexual predator, whether president or janitor.

Her new book, Not My Type, about suing and beating Trump in court is, from title to last page, an admirable act of subversion, casting the female gaze back at the bubble of pomposity and arrogance and entitlement around one man and his team and their processes, reducing the narcissist to his insecure essence.

This book is full of mischief; it’s also erudite and serious. Carroll calls herself an optimist who loves to laugh, and laugh she does as she weaves bits of outrageous court transcript and her own observations on the courtroom scene, which she recorded contemporaneously in audio notes to herself before going to bed at night.

The book is also an “old woman’s” shout, in some ways the female version of old man Trump’s “fight fight fight.” It opens with a scene in which Trump lawyer Alina Habba is demanding that Carroll list all her former lovers. She studies Habba’s Chanel suits and colossal diamond ring (noting that her husband is suing the jeweler over the cost). She recounts how, as Trump lawyer Joe Tacopina looked her in the eye and suggested she not only “hates men” but “abominates men,” she was musing about the amount of pumped iron it took to build such a sweaty, bull-like neck.

The book is funny, but also serious. In practice for court testimony, her lawyers showed her some of the hundreds of death threats posted to her on Facebook, evidence they planned to enter into the second defamation trial and asked her how they made her “feel.” Carroll couldn’t think of any words as she reread posts like “i will rape u, e jean carroll” and “I’m so very sorry; my friend wants to kill you and I cannot stop him. Rest in peace cunt.” The lawyers eventually dispatched her to talk to a therapist who advised her not to struggle for a cogent thought, but to “go to the body” and just describe the physical effects of fear.

After the verdict was read, Carroll writes that she restrained her “joy so wild” until outside the courtroom with her team—at which point she erupted “despite the fragile splendor of my age, despite the fact that women do not win lawsuits, I let out a shout so loud that it must reach Judge Lewis A. Kaplan in his robing chamber, because everybody shushes me.”

Nobody shushes her much anymore. Trump has had to put up $91.6 million in escrow while his lawyers execute dwindling legal maneuvers to avoid paying the sexual abuse and defamation judgments awarded by two separate juries of his peers.

At a book party in attorney Roberta Kaplan’s Manhattan office on June 24, the anti-Trump culturati was out in force—agents, publishers, editors, boldfaced names like Rosanna Arquette, Ellen Barkin, Mary Trump. Also two key trial witnesses: author Lisa Birnbach and television anchor Carol Martin. Both were brought in to testify that Carroll told them about the assault shortly after it happened. (Their presence reminded all that by custom if not by law, it still takes multiple women’s testimonies to equal a man’s. Like Carroll, they fielded death threats and still do.)

At the party, Kaplan had just come from a hearing at which Team Trump was throwing a Hail Mary pass to the 2024 Supreme Court presidential immunity decision to save Trump from having to pay the judgment. His lawyers are contending presidential immunity applies, since he trashed her via the White House press office. Lower courts have so far not bought it, but Trump is expected to appeal to the Supreme Court.

The day after the book was released, I interviewed Carroll in a Manhattan hotel room. A tempest was crashing down on Manhattan, and rain slashed at the twelfth-floor windows. Inside, clad in a white airman’s flight suit, Carroll poured tiny glasses of Chartreuse, and periodically stopped to clink glasses.

Edited for space, here is our conversation:

Burleigh: So where are you getting all these flight suits? Because the last time I saw you, you had an orange one on.

Carroll: I got five in the closet. From actual Army surplus. They’re not designer jumpsuits. I got some collectibles in there. The orange one was from the ’60s. The blue one’s from the ’80s. You know, because fuck, if he can put tanks on the street, Nina, I can put a flight suit on my body. And we’re in a fight.

Burleigh: What’s up with the Chartreuse?

Carroll: It’s medicinal. It’s got one hundred thirty herbs, bark, flowers. My lawyer gave me a bottle when I was insomniac during the trial. It works. You know, these monks made this since the 1500s. I don’t drink. I don’t drink a lot. (sips) Isn’t that fucking great?

Burleigh: Talk to me about your choice to describe in the book all the “fabulous” clothes you wore. Isn’t that kind of a female cliché?

Carroll: The woman’s body is always the center. And so I took that fact and turned it. And if you notice in the book, I wrote about what everybody had on in the trial. I wrote about the runway. I wrote about Joe Tacopina and the inside of his jacket. I wrote everything that Alina was wearing. I got it back. You know, I’m like, this is what I wore, but this is what they wore. And as women, every woman reading this, knows: What we put on our bodies tells the world who we are, tells the world. And that’s just a fact.

Burleigh: What was your take on Tacopina?

Carroll: He was disgusting. You know, he’s a great defense lawyer. I mean, Trump hired the best defense. He hired the guy who defended the guy who bludgeoned Natalee Holloway; got him out of jail for fifteen years. Michael Jackson, this guy got him acquitted. Tacopina was way too good for this case. But he followed Trump’s orders and he lost. Trump hired him because he beats up on Black women. Because he beats up on grandmas. As with the Stormy Daniels case, Trump hires lawyers to say what he wants. Tacopina probably would have lost that too. Let’s toast that. Cheers! We’re drinking shark juice. It’s going down well.

Burleigh: People forget you had a great career as a writer. This book is kind of a reminder.

Carroll: I was a fucking workman, a magazine writer in New York. We could go anywhere, do anything. I had a pair of jeans and cowgirl boots and a jacket and a shirt. And we didn’t have Instagram. We didn’t know we didn’t look fabulous. We just looked fabulous. And we went everywhere. We were out on the boulevards at, what, 4 a.m. We were at the brasserie having coffee at 3:30. We just, we fucking lived, and we owned this town.

Burleigh: What do you hope people take away from this book, and your experience?

Carroll: It drives me crazy when I hear liberals say [Trump’s] just stupid. He’s not stupid. He’s one of the smartest people of his generation. He now controls the United States of America. Never underestimate Donald Trump. I knew enough to be able to be an old woman and beat him twice. But I cannot see into the future. I think that if women got together, because we control like 55 percent of the wealth in this country, particularly older women, control a lot of the wealth. You have something here that if we rally the women, particularly the older segment, because the poor thirtysomethings have to hold down two jobs. I was trying to talk Mary Trump into stepping up and leading him. Would you like to join me in asking Mary Trump to stand up and start leading? Somebody needs to lead. The women. We’re rudderless. But we have money. We need a leader.

Burleigh: What do you make of right-wing women right now; they seem pretty empowered.

Carroll: Alina Habba, deliciously arrogant. Didn’t know a fucking thing about the law. Didn’t know diddly squat. And yet, she is vice president of his PAC. She got to help get him elected because she’s overwhelming, confident. We can learn. Why should we be frightened? We’re smarter. We’re richer. We have a vastly different experience, deeper experience. We’re just going to wake up, get off our lazy asses.

Burleigh: You really walked in there with a lot of confidence, head high.

Carroll: It’s always physical with me. I’m not particularly smart. I’m not particularly well organized. But what I am is physical. I know, you know, the minute I stand up I’ve got to do something. If I do this, fucking watch out. That’s why I want Democrats to fucking stand up and leave the house. We all fucking sit on our fat, lazy asses.

Burleigh: When did you know you were going to write a book?

Carroll: My editor gave me permission. And I just started off with Alina Habba asking me to list my lovers. That was it. I just needed to get it started, and then I understand I was in a high comedy. I had all the transcripts. So I was in the middle of a high comedy. I had all the lines. In a play, in show business, you have what the actor is saying and then you have the actor’s business. And so I had both. I knew what they were doing, I knew how they walked, I knew how they talked, because I had all the notes. I’m very optimistic, as you know. So the book turned out to be funny about a very serious topic. And some of the scenes were deadly serious.

Burleigh: And the metaphor of the courtroom as runway?

Carroll: We’re in New York. It’s the fashion capital of the world. We’ve been to fashion shows. It’s nothing compared to that, because Judge Kaplan had the great criminals of our time. John Gotti. One of the great dressers right? Prince Andrew. Who dresses better? I mean really. And then we had in my trial the attorneys, they were just so delicious. The attorneys all got new outfits. You know Judge Kaplan always had a new shirt and a nice tie every day. Tacopina blew everybody away.

Burleigh: What are you going to do with the money if and when Trump pays up?

Carroll: I’m going to give it all away to causes he hates.