Summary
- Epstein's estate documents show possible Musk and Bannon contact.
- Musk planned a trip to Epstein's island in 2014.
- Documents include meetings with Bannon and Peter Thiel.
Meeting schedules that seem to indicate appointments with Bannon and venture investor Peter Thiel during Donald Trump's first term in office are included in around six pages of more than 8,500 papers that Epstein's estate gave to Democratic members of the House Oversight Committee.
Additionally, Musk is mentioned in the documents as possibly going to Epstein's island in 2014.
The documents additionally indicate that Prince Andrew was a passenger on Epstein's plane and financial records presented to the committee suggest that Epstein made a payment to someone with the name "Andrew."
The mere presence of a person's name in the records does not mean that person has committed a crime.
This small group of documents includes a flight manifest dated May 12, 2000, showing Prince Andrew as a passenger on a flight from New Jersey to West Palm Beach, Florida, with Epstein and Epstein's associate, Ghislaine Maxwell.
A December 5, 2014, schedule note states:
"Reminder: Elon Musk to island Dec. 6 (is this still happening?)"
A planned breakfast with Bill Gates is also mentioned in that same email.
An agenda containing a lunch appointment with Thiel at noon on November 27, 2017, is included in an email received on that day.
An agenda with a brunch with Bannon at 7 a.m. on February 16 is included in another email issued on February 14, 2019.
The majority of the other documents the committee submitted are financial ledgers that have been censored.
Particularly following his contentious plea agreement that compelled him to register as a sex offender in 2007, Epstein is accused of having met or planning to meet with influential members of Trump's inner circle.
In 2019, only months before Epstein was charged with trafficking and sexually assaulting dozens of juveniles, he was appointed by Bannon. In August 2019, Epstein was discovered dead in a New York jail cell after entering a not guilty plea.
Musk's name is noteworthy as well since the billionaire and Trump had a falling out over the files' release, which led to accusations that Trump was involved in a cover-up to keep them from being made public.
“It should be clear to every American that Jeffrey Epstein was friends with some of the most powerful and wealthiest men in the world,”
Oversight Committee spokesperson Sara Guerrero said in a statement Friday.
“Every new document produced provides new information as we work to bring justice for the survivors and victims,”
she added.
“Oversight Democrats will not stop until we identify everyone complicit in Epstein’s heinous crimes.”
House Democrats have argued for the Department of Justice and Attorney General Pam Bondi to “release all the files now,” Guerrero said.
Republicans on the committee called the latest batch of files “old news.”
“It's sad how Democrats are conveniently withholding documents that contain the names of Democratic officials” and “putting politics over victims,”
according to Oversight Republicans.
“We are releasing them all soon.”
The president's ties with the late financier has come under additional scrutiny after the Justice Department attempted to conclude the probe after the Trump administration promised to make the so-called "Epstein files" public.
Last month, the Justice Department was subpoenaed by a Republican-led House committee for documents pertaining to Epstein and Maxwell's criminal convictions. Maxwell is currently serving a 20-year sentence in federal prison after being found guilty in 2021 of participating in a plot to sexually exploit and abuse juveniles alongside Epstein.
Following two days of drawn-out congressional hearings with FBI Director Kash Patel, whose leadership has been criticized after the bureau's ruling earlier this year that "no further disclosure" in the Epstein case "would be appropriate or warranted," the most recent batch of papers was released.
Which lawmakers received the Epstein documents and what they revealed?
The Epstein files were largely supplied to the U.S. House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, which is a congressional committee investigating Jeffrey Epstein's network and activities.
The files contain redacted documents, including meeting itineraries, flight logs, finances, and the legendary "Birthday Book." Excerpted material from the files reveal Epstein's financial activities and estate operations, looking for connection to a wider network of powerful people.
The committee has received hundreds of pages of documents, including victim interviews, law enforcement records, and transcripts from court cases related to Epstein's criminal cases.