Media Matters reviewed print and online articles from the Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post, as well as weekday episodes of ABC's Good Morning America and World News Tonight, CBS' Mornings and Evening News, and NBC's Today and Nightly News and the networks' Sunday morning political talk shows (ABC's This Week, CBS' Face the Nation, and NBC's Meet the Press) from November 12 through December 8 for articles and segments about Jeffery Epstein.

Out of 102 print and 194 online articles, we found that just 8% and 6%, respectively, mentioned any connection between Epstein and Bannon. For broadcast news, not a single segment out of 67 covering Epstein (amounting to just over 3 hours) mentioned his connection to Bannon at all.

No shortage of material exists for these news outlets to draw from, though. Bannon and Epstein exchanged hundreds of emails and text messages, including a text exchange on the day of Epstein’s arrest on sex trafficking charges in 2019. Just 2 articles mentioned that Bannon and Epstein had been in regular communication in the months leading up to Epstein’s detainment. Bannon also recorded 15 hours of unaired interview footage of Epstein that year, reportedly to provide Epstein with media training and to help rehabilitate his image, which only a single New York Times article mentioned. (Bannon has denied that characterization and claimed he “never media-trained anyone.”)

According to the released files, Bannon requested to film Epstein at his private island, which Epstein agreed to. Epstein also invited Bannon to his other residences, which was mentioned in just 3 articles. Epstein appears to have offered to arrange a charter flight for Bannon, leading him to joke that he was Bannon’s “travel agent.” Just 2 articles mentioned that Epstein had arranged travel for Bannon. Epstein apparently also helped connect Bannon with far-right European politicians, which was alluded to in a single Washington Post article that discussed Epstein’s advice to Bannon for engaging with foreign leaders. Additionally, Bannon told Epstein that MAGA could help shield him for a “decade” from the social movements demanding accountability for sexual harassment and assaults committed by powerful men.  

In short, Bannon is all over the released Epstein files. Once a leading voice for their release, he has gone quiet on the topic since the files were made public in November.      

Though Bannon is not currently serving in the administration, his War Room podcast still wields heavy influence over the MAGA media sphere and Republican members of Congress. For years War Room has been used to promote far-right, conspiracy theory loving congressional candidates. Earlier this year Bannon apparently helped pick Trump’s new candidate to head the Bureau of Labor Statistics, though his nomination was later withdrawn for lack of qualifications.

Since the release of Epstein’s communications, Bannon's War Room show has continued to serve as a landing spot for Trump administration officials, GOP members of Congress, and GOP congressional candidates.

Eight days after the files dropped, Bannon hosted longtime collaborator and Trump senior counselor for trade and manufacturing Peter Navarro. The two casually discussed trade and economic policy.

Treasury staffer Joseph Lavorgna also appeared on the show shortly after the files were released to discuss the labor market. He appeared again less than two weeks later to discuss no tax on tips and overtime legislation. 

In the days leading up to the special election for Tennessee's 7th Congressional District, Bannon hosted GOP candidate Matt Van Epps to campaign. When previously asked about the release of the Epstein files, Van Epps had answered, “They are taking a deliberative approach with subpoena power so they can fully investigate the situation and hold those accountable that need to be held accountable for the heinous crimes that happened.” On December 2, Van Epps told Bannon, “I’m so grateful to be on with you today.” 

Texas GOP hopeful Brett Jensen also stopped by War Room to campaign for his congressional race, telling Bannon that he was “a long time War Room posse member.” Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton appeared on War Room in December to celebrate the state’s Supreme Court win on the GOP’s redistricting maps. Paxton also spent time campaigning for his Senate race, declaring to Bannon, “We’re going to win.” Bannon has also hosted Senate hopefuls Royce White and Nate Morris in the month since the House Oversight Committee’s release of Epstein’s communications.

Also in December, Sens. Mike Lee (R-UT) and Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) made guest appearances on the show. Lee, who previously called for the release of the Epstein files before baselessly suggesting that Epstein may have been a government asset, took time to argue that Trump should have the executive power to fire any executive branch employee at will. 

Tuberville had dismissed the Epstein files over the summer, saying of Congress, “We’ve got a lot more problems than that,” and, in a July interview, “That’s been talked about so much that’s kind of made it a huge issue and it is to a lot of people because, you know, child predators and all those things.” Tuberville, who is currently campaigning for Alabama governor, appeared on War Room on December 9 to spread Islamophobic rhetoric about the shutdown of an Islamic education center in his state. 

Despite the revelations about Bannon and Epstein’s relationship, plenty of media outlets continue to use Bannon as a source. Axios, ABC News, and NBC News have all used quotes from Bannon in recent pieces about MAGA’s response to the rise of AI due to his outspoken dislike of the technology. 

ABC News included quotes from both War Room and an interview with Bannon, who told them, “[The MAGA base] see all these tech oligarchs that tried to suppress their voices ... and then all of a sudden being the President's new best friends. They just don't buy it.” ABC then noted that Bannon “plans to make combating AI his main focus in the coming months and years ahead” with no mention of any other topics that might be relevant in the MAGA space. 

NBC News quoted Bannon and said he “advocated for sensible AI regulations.” In another piece on the fight for AI regulation, Axios called War Room “one of the most influential MAGA podcasts” and quoted Bannon saying, “The tech bros will be the first to jump ship when the midterm fight turns ugly, as surely it will.”

The New York Times, which has acknowledged Bannon and Epstein's ties in at least some of its content, published a review on December 3 of Bannon’s newest film release, “The Last 600 Meters,” an Iraq war documentary produced 17 years ago that recently aired on PBS. 

Politico, which mentioned Bannon in a larger piece about the Epstein documents, reached out to Bannon via text for a quote on New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani’s win. In a recently published piece about MAGA’s relationship with Israel, Politico included lengthy interviews with Bannon on the topic and referenced conspiracy theories about Epstein’s alleged connections to Israel — but failed to note the connection between the two men. 

Media Matters searched transcripts in the SnapStream video database for all original weekday episodes of ABC's Good Morning America and World News Tonight, CBS' Mornings and Evening News, and NBC's Today and Nightly News, as well as ABC's This Week, CBS' Face the Nation, and NBC's Meet the Press, for the term “Epstein” from November 12, 2025, when the House Oversight Committee made public 23,000 files provided by the Epstein Estate, through December 8, 2025.

We also searched articles in the Factiva database from the Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post for the term “Epstein” from November 12, 2025, through December 8, 2025.

We timed segments, which we defined as instances when Jeffery Epstein was the stated topic of discussion or when we found significant discussion of Epstein. We defined significant discussion as instances when two or more speakers in a multitopic segment discussed Epstein with one another. We rounded all times to the nearest minute.

We also included articles, which we defined as instances when Jeffery Epstein was mentioned in the headline or lead paragraphs. We included editorial and op-eds but not letters to the editor and reviewed both print and digital versions.

We then reviewed the identified segments and articles for whether they mentioned any of the following: that the Epstein files revealed that Bannon had corresponded with Epstein, that Bannon acted as an adviser to Epstein, that Bannon continued to advise and communicate with Epstein right up until Epstein's arrest, that Epstein had invited Bannon to his private residences, that Epstein had repeatedly arranged for Bannon's personal travel, that Epstein had connected Bannon with foreign leaders and dignitaries, that Bannon created hours of documentary footage with Epstein, and the volume of communication between Epstein and Bannon.