The Guardian reports:

Dozens of messages contained in the latest tranche of Epstein files lay bare the attempts by Donald Trump’s former chief strategist Steve Bannon to tap Jeffrey Epstein for support and funding to bolster European far-right parties.

The messages mostly date to 2018 and 2019, when Bannon, after being sacked by Trump, regularly visited Europe in his quest to forge a movement in the European parliament uniting ultra-rightwing and Eurosceptic forces from several countries including Italy, Germany, France, Hungary, Poland, Sweden and Austria.

Bannon especially set his sights on Matteo Salvini, the Italian deputy prime minister and leader of the far-right League, who at the time was at the height of his political power. Italian opposition parties this week urged Salvini to clarify whether Epstein influenced the rise of the League after Salvini’s name was cited several times in messages exchanged between Bannon and Epstein.

In France, the leftwing party La France Insoumise also called for a cross-party parliament inquiry after several French figures including Jack Lang, a former culture minister, and his daughter appeared in the latest Epstein release, as did exchanges between Epstein and Bannon in which Bannon spoke of his desire to raise money for the far-right leader Marine Le Pen.

In Germany, the files revealed exchanges between Epstein and Bannon promoting Alternative für Deutschland while denigrating the then German chancellor, Angela Merkel.

In texts from 2018, Bannon bragged about his influence as an “adviser” to the new rightwing populists and saw the parties’ gains in Europe as a chance to use them to his and Epstein’s benefit.

There is no evidence of any direct relations between Salvini and Epstein, nor any suggestion that Salvini was involved in Epstein’s sex-trafficking network. But what the messages do reveal is Epstein’s interest in European nationalists. [Continue reading…]