‘We really need an intervention’: The Epstein files just exposed what Steve Bannon was secretly plotting against Trump in 2019

The newly released Jeffrey Epstein files have revealed that longtime presidential advisor Steve Bannon secretly discussed using the 25th Amendment to remove President Trump from office during his first term. The detail comes from a text message exchange between Bannon and Epstein that began around New Year’s Eve in 2018, shortly after Democrats took control of the House following the midterms.

According to The Independent, the conversation started with Bannon saying the White House had “zero plan to punch back” against political attacks. Epstein responded that the president “is really borderline. Not sure what he may do.” Bannon then replied, “I think it’s beyond borderline – 25 amendment.”

The 25th Amendment is the constitutional provision that allows the Vice President and a majority of the cabinet to declare the president unfit for office and remove him. Elsewhere in the same conversation, Bannon also suggested, “we really need an intervention.”

Bannon’s past plotting stands in sharp contrast to his current image as one of Trump’s loudest defenders

This is a striking revelation given Bannon’s current loyalty to Trump. Bannon, who served as a White House and campaign advisor, has become one of Trump’s most vocal supporters. Earlier this year, he served four months in prison for refusing to comply with a Congressional subpoena related to the January 6 Capitol riot investigation. He has even advocated for Trump to seek an unconstitutional third term.

The news has drawn strong reactions from Trump allies. Former congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene pointed to the hypocrisy of Bannon going to jail for defying Congress on Trump’s behalf, while he was texting Epstein about the 25th Amendment on January 1, 2019. 

She also criticized Bannon’s relationship with Epstein “post conviction, 2018-19. None,” she stated, adding there is “no excuse” for that level of contact. Mike Flynn, Trump’s first-term national security advisor, called on the Department of Justice to bring Bannon in for questioning. Meanwhile, Epstein survivors say AG Pam Bondi’s hearing felt like being erased all over again, adding another layer of frustration to how this case has been handled.

At the time of the texts, Bannon had been out of the Trump administration for over a year and was working on a documentary about Epstein. In the six months before Epstein’s arrest in the summer of 2019 on sex trafficking charges, the two communicated about media training, rehabilitating Epstein’s public image, and which lawyers Epstein should hire. Critics have also raised concerns about mysterious redactions found in the Epstein files, with some lawmakers accusing the Justice Department of being in “cover-up mode.”

Bannon has defended the communications as purely professional. He explained that as a filmmaker and TV host, he has decades of experience interviewing controversial figures, and that his private communications should only be seen through the “lens” of a documentary filmmaker trying to secure 50 hours of interviews from a reclusive subject. 

He claims the film’s purpose was to “destroy the very myths he created” about Epstein. These newly released files make clear that Bannon’s loyalty to Trump was far from solid just a few years ago, regardless of how close the two appear today.