A section of the privately-funded border wall, seen from Ciudad Juárez, rises from the bank of Rio Grande toward Mount Cristo Rey in October 2020. Photo by Corrie Boudreaux/El Paso Matters
EL PASO, Texas (EL PASO MATTERS) — Right-wing nationalist leader Steve Bannon boasted to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein about starting a private border wall outside El Paso in 2019 in a way that avoided possible court intervention.
In a May 25, 2019, text message exchange with Epstein as the wall was in its second day of construction, Bannon also said he wanted to stay in the background on the effort. Bannon would later face federal criminal charges over the private border wall effort, but was saved from prosecution by a pardon from President Donald Trump in the last hours of Trump’s first term.
“I also can’t seem like I’m running trumps nose in his own incompetence,” Bannon said in an exchange replete with typos. Bannon served as Trump’s chief strategist for seven months during the president’s first term in 2017, and is now an influential figure in the conservative nationalism movement.
Bannon has not responded to a request for comment from El Paso Matters.
Steve Bannon, left, and Jeffrey Epstein
The text message exchange was among the 3.5 million pages of documents released by the Justice Department on Friday in response to a law passed by Congress last year.
Identifications other than Epstein’s are redacted in the released documents, but Bannon’s ties to the disgraced financier have been well documented. Details in the exchange match Bannon’s involvement in the private border wall effort that have been detailed in court records.
The exchange includes a discussion of the sudden construction of a privately funded border wall in Sunland Park, New Mexico, just outside the El Paso city limits over Memorial Day weekend in 2019.
The private wall was built as Trump struggled to expand government barriers in the El Paso region in his first term.
“My wall dude — New Mexico – right outside El Paso — in total secret — we go on fox and friends on Monday to release,” Bannon said in the message to Epstein on the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend in 2019.
Epstein asked Bannon if he was going to New Mexico as part of the project unveiling.
“Can’t ; have kobach and kolfage on site — I’m the chairman but I push those 2 plus the construction guy as national heroes — we started Memorial Day Friday after the courts closed– and will be done Monday @ noon,” Bannon said.
Epstein-Bannon-border-wallDownload
He was referring to Kris Kobach, a Kansas politician, and Brian Kolfage, the founder of the private wall effort. Kobach appeared on “Fox and Friends” to discuss the project May 27, 2019, which was Memorial Day. He was interviewed by Pete Hegseth, now secretary of defense.
Kolfage had a news conference at the construction site of the private wall May 30, five days after the exchange between Bannon and Epstein.
Sunland Park city officials were surprised by the wall construction and said it lacked the proper permits, but were unable to stop it. They complained that the work was done over a holiday while city offices and courts were closed.
In the message exchange, Bannon said he was just returning from Kazakhstan and Epstein said he was in Santa Fe, where he owned a ranch.
Epstein expresses concerns about his relationship with Bannon.
“I gave you money to study English. You gambled it! Im not angry at all. bust have no idea what you want now and if i can trust you,” the disgraced financier wrote.
Bannon responded: “I want to study and want to be useful for you, while I was in Hawaii, I had a dream, I want to make it my goal and tell you about it.”
They appear to be trying to schedule an upcoming meeting in New York City.
“I do not get how u hang out in NYC,” Bannon said.
“If i want ny smarts there is no other place,” Epstein responded.
“I got that– but u can cram my smarts into 2 days a month,” Bannon replied.
They then appear to agree to five days a month.
Epstein died by hanging Aug. 10, 2019, in a New York City jail cell while awaiting trial on federal charges of sex trafficking of minors and conspiracy to commit sex trafficking. The death, two-and-a-half months after the message exchange with Bannon, was officially ruled a suicide.
In August 2020, Kolfage, Bannon and two others were charged by a federal grand jury with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering for allegedly diverting millions of dollars in donor funds for personal use rather than building the wall as promised.
Trump pardoned Bannon before his federal case could go to trial; Kolfage and the other two defendants pleaded guilty or were convicted and received multi-year prison sentences.
In 2025, Bannon pleaded guilty in a New York state prosecution to a scheme to defraud donors tied to the same fundraising campaign. He received a conditional discharge and no jail time, along with restrictions on charity work.
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