Musk, Thiel and Bannon named in Epstein docs released by Dems
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Elon Musk during a press availability in the Oval Office on May 30. Photo: Francis Chung/Politico/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Elon Musk, Peter Thiel and Steve Bannon are all named in copies of Jeffrey Epstein's daily schedules released Friday by Democrats on the House Oversight Committee.
Why it matters: The schedules make reference to Musk possibly flying to an "island" in 2014, and Thiel and Bannon apparently dining with Epstein as recently as 2017 and 2019, respectively.
- "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 Democrats spokesperson Sara Guerrero said in a statement.
- "Every new document produced provides new information as we work to bring justice for the survivors and victims. Oversight Democrats will not stop until we identify everyone complicit in Epstein's heinous crimes."
- The documents do not link any of the men to criminal activity or misconduct.
Committee Democrats did not give Republicans advance notice before releasing the tranche, and the GOP side accused them of "cherry-picking" documents while concealing others that could implicate Democratic officials.
Spokespeople for Musk, Thiel and Bannon did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
- Epstein's relationships with Bannon, Thiel and Musk have all been previously reported, but the documents have not.
State of play: The schedules come from a third tranche of documents turned over to the panel in response to its subpoena of the Epstein Estate in August.
- The batch contains 8,544 documents, said Oversight Committee Democrats spokesperson Emily Kassner-Marks.
- The documents purport to show Epstein's phone logs from 2002 to 2005, flight logs from his aircraft between 1990 and 2019, daily schedules from 2010 to 2019 and financial ledgers.
Zoom in: Musk, the billionaire owner of Tesla, SpaceX and X and an erstwhile ally of President Trump, is listed in a Dec. 6, 2014, entry reading, "Reminder: Elon Musk to island Dec. 6 (is this still happening?)."
- A Nov. 27, 2017, entry lists a "12:00pm LUNCH w/Peter Thiel." Thiel is a billionaire venture capitalist who has been a major donor to Republicans.
- An entry on Feb. 16, 2019 — just months before Epstein's death — lists a "7:00am BREAKFAST w/Steve Bannon." Bannon is a close Trump ally who served as a White House senior counselor during the president's first term.
- One of the flight manifests from Epstein's aircraft, dated May 12, 2000, references Prince Andrew as a passenger on a flight from Teterboro Airport in New Jersey to West Palm Beach, Florida, along with Epstein, Ghislaine Maxwell and several others.
The other side: "It's unfortunate that Democrats continue to meaninglessly cherry-pick documents and politicize this investigation," a spokesperson for the Oversight Committee's Republicans told Axios.
- "They are intentionally withholding documents that contain names of Democrat officials, and the information they released today is old news. We are focused on delivering transparency and accountability for the survivors, and will release documents in full."
What's next: A GOP Oversight aide told Axios the committee plans to release unredacted calendars, call logs and cash ledgers from Epstein's estate once victims' names are redacted.
