Steve Bannon has finally broken his silence over his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein after files released by the Justice Department revealed the Trump confidant maintained close contact with the pedophile.

Bannon frequently texted and emailed the financier, even sharing political and media strategy in the period leading up to his arrest on sex-trafficking charges.

The MAGA firebrand, who was fired from the Trump administration in 2017, suggested in one text message that the president should be removed from office. 

Bannon conducted hours of interviews with Epstein in his Manhattan mansion in 2019, which was previously understood to be related to media coaching for a potential appearance on 60 Minutes that aimed to rehabilitate the disgraced financier's image.

Now he is claiming the interview was intended to expose the deceased pedophile and 'destroy the very myths he created' for an upcoming documentary.

'I am a filmmaker and TV host with decades of experience interviewing controversial figures,' Bannon told the New York Times on Monday. 

'That's the only lens through which these private communications should be viewed — a documentary filmmaker working, over a period of time, to secure 50 hours of interviews from a reclusive subject.'  

Bannon's shocking response comes after conservatives blasted him for appearing to endorse removing Trump from office via the 25th Amendment in private text messages exchanged with Epstein.

In December 2018 Bannon told Epstein that Trump was 'beyond borderline - 25 amendment' suggesting the idea of using the Constitution to remove the President. 

'I remember all the 25th amendment talk back in the first term. It was really ugly. If Bannon AND Epstein were behind it, Bannon needs to be brought in for questioning,' Michael Flynn, who served alongside Bannon in Trump's first term, wrote on X.

'And he needs to address this and all the other sh*t he was doing on behalf of Epstein.'

Other conservative activists referred to Bannon as a 'traitor' over his relationship with the financier. 

The private text exchanged raised eyebrows as Bannon is viewed as one of Trump's most ardent media supporters. 

Bannon has been a close adviser to Trump for over a decade and is often credited as being a key part of Trump's electoral success in 2016 against former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

It comes as the Trump administration is trying to clear Bannon's criminal record after he was jailed over the January 6 investigation.

The Justice Department asked the Supreme Court and a federal judge last week to dismiss Bannon's criminal indictment and conviction for refusing to testify before the Democrat-led January 6 Committee.

In 2021, Bannon refused to testify against Trump and declined to provide any documents to the committee.

The House voted soon after to hold him in contempt of Congress and the Biden DOJ led the prosecution. Bannon served four months in prison.

Bannon's Epstein-connection scandal has been further fueled by newly released Justice Department photos showing the MAGA confidante posing casually alongside Epstein.

The images were taken in Epstein's Manhattan townhouse well after Epstein's sexual abuse crimes were widely known. 

The Daily Mail reached out for comment regarding further specifics of his upcoming Epstein film.