A newly released tranche of Jeffrey Epstein files has unveiled a bizarre video interview in which the disgraced financier is questioned by Steve Bannon, a former adviser to Donald Trump. The nearly two-hour conversation, filmed around 2019 at Epstein's New York home, was reportedly intended for a sympathetic documentary aimed at polishing his tarnished reputation. The footage reveals an easy familiarity between the two men, with Bannon calling Epstein a 'schmuck' and a 'criminal', and even asking if he is 'the devil' fallen from paradise.
During the interview, Epstein expounds on gender and race, asserting that women have an 'intuitive sense' that men lack. He also denies being a racist, claiming that Black people are not less intelligent than white people, but rather have different intelligences suited to their environments. The conversation veers into esoteric topics such as quantum physics and philosophy, with both men invoking Socrates and Isaac Newton, while largely ignoring Epstein's crimes against young girls.
Epstein details his rise from a trader at Bear Stearns to a member of elite international boards, attributing his success to a shift from character-based decisions to mathematical calculations in business. He describes his induction into the Trilateral Commission and his role on the Rockefeller University board, emphasising his perceived outsider status. The interview was part of a cache of files released following Epstein's arrest in July 2019 and his subsequent death in jail in August 2019.
