The newly released Epstein files include almost 3,000 documents with Bannon in them

On Friday, War Room went live to a Department of Justice press conference announcing the release of 3 million more pages of documents related to the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The newly released files included thousands of text messages between Bannon and Epstein that show a close and very friendly relationship between the two men. As Politico notes, “the new tranche of files suggests the relationship between the two men was deeper, chummier and more expansive than previously known.” Among the files is a two-hour interview Bannon conducted with Epstein as part of his work on a public image rehabilitation documentary in 2019; there are reportedly hours more unreleased.

Similarly to his response to the release of the first batch of Epstein documents, Bannon is choosing to ignore his extensive inclusion in the files with no public comments to press or on War Room. But some on the right are speaking out about the connection between the two men. 

The Daily Wire’s Ben Shapiro said on his Monday show: “It's kind of shocking to me that Bannon basically was doing PR rehab on Jeffrey Epstein and continues to go out there and be one of the main progenitors of the sort of Epstein scandal. Dude, you should know better than anyone. You hung out with the guy.” Former Trump adviser Roger Stone also voiced his disapproval in a post on Gettr, writing, “Stinky Steve Bannon Busted as Epstein Buttboi." 

Fox host Mark Levin, who has longstanding conflict with Bannon, posted to Gettr, “Bloated Bannon and Epstein. Exactly what was the full extent of their relationship?” On his radio show, Levin also went on a rant about Bannon's connections to Epstein, asking “How much did he get paid by Epstein? Was it a philanthropic activity? Everybody knows Bannon is very philanthropic. Not.”

On Newsmax’s The Right Stuff guest Jason Nichols said “no one wants to admit the unpopular thing to say is, in terms of like the tiers of badness of associating with Epstein, you have Steve Bannon who was staying BFFs with Jeffrey Epstein up until the very end."

And Bannon is again facing questions from viewers, as well. In the comment section of his Rumble videos, some are asking Bannon to explain his relationship with Epstein.

MAGA-connected accounts on Gettr shared similar concerns, saying, “Shame on you Steve Bannon,” and calling the newly released information about Bannon’s relationship with Epstein "very disturbing."

Bannon’s heavily endorsed candidate lost her state Senate race by historic margins

On Sunday, Democrat Taylor Rehmet pulled a historic upset over Wambsganss, the Bannon- and Donald Trump-endorsed GOP nominee in a Texas state Senate special election. Where “Trump won the district by about 17 points in 2024, the Democrat held a 14-point lead with nearly all of the vote counted as of Sunday morning,” CNN reported, calling the “roughly 31-point difference … one of the party’s strongest recent special election performances."

Wambsganss has been a longtime guest of War Room, appearing as early as 2023 to talk about Moms for Liberty and turning school boards conservative during her time as chief communications officer for Patriot Mobile, “America's ONLY Christian Conservative Wireless Provider.” (Patriot Mobile is a longtime sponsor of War Room.) Bannon and Wambsganss were both leaders in the conservative movement to take over school boards across the country in an effort to remove supposed “critical race theory” and LGBTQ topics from classrooms. 

In October 2025, Wambsganss appeared on War Room to announce her campaign. Bannon claimed she was “very bravely” trying to “clean things up starting in the Texas Senate,” calling her “one of the most moral, decent people I’ve ever met.” Wambsganss made another guest appearance a few days later, when Bannon claimed her race “is going to be a barn burner, this is going to go all the way. You’re going to have to run through the tape, you know that. It’s going to be incredible.”

The day of the special election, on January 31, Bannon interviewed Wambsganss again to push Republicans to get out and vote. Bannon claimed Democrats had “poured millions of dollars of dark money, out-of-state money into this race because they understand how important Texas is," calling the campaign “a real dog fight right now,” then implied Democrats would use ineligible voters to win the election at all costs. (Wambsganss raised over $2 million more than the Democratic candidate.) Bannon also praised Wambsganss for being “a firebrand” and “the only Trump endorsee, I think, of all the state senators running.”

Wambsganss made at least three other appearances on War Room in January, one of which Wambsganss promoted on her campaign Facebook page, saying she “went on Steve Bannon’s War Room to talk about the special election because this race matters.”

After the loss, local newspaper the Fort Worth Star-Telegram ran an opinion piece that listed Bannon as a “loser” of the election, adding that “If you’ve got MAGA voters, Bannon adds nothing, and this is one of many Wambsganss mistakes other Republicans will learn to avoid.”

On his Monday morning shows, Bannon conceded that Texas Republicans aren’t as energized as Democrats and did not name Wambsganss at all. 

Bannon had one reason to smile on Monday though when Trump shared an image of him and Peter Navarro on Truth Social, writing: “Two very good guys who were treated so unfairly by Sleepy Joe Biden. But now, they are bigger than ever!!!"