Jeffrey Epstein described himself as a ‘tier one’ sexual predator in a newly-revealed video showing the disgraced financier facing questions in a sit-down interview.
The footage emerged as part of the tranche of files that the US department of justice published on Friday, including 180,000 images and 2,000 videos.
Epstein, wearing glasses and a black shirt, is also asked whether he ‘is the Devil himself’ by the interviewer, who does not appear on screen but he is believed to be Donald Trump’s former chief strategist, Steve Bannon.
‘No, but I do have a good mirror,’ the convicted paedophile responds, before the interviewer hits back: ‘It’s a serious question. Do you think you’re the devil himself?’
Epstein says: ‘I don’t know. Why would you say that?’
The interviewer begins to explain, saying, ‘because you have all the attributes’, before Epstein cuts him off: ‘No, the devil scares me.’
Bannon, 72, served in the White House role for the first seven months of Trump’s first administration.
It is not clear when or where the interview was filmed, who filmed the video, or why Bannon in particular was chosen to question Epstein.
Jeffrey Epstein described himself as a ‘tier one’ sexual predator in a newly-revealed video showing the disgraced financier facing questions in a sit-down interview
The footage emerged as part of the newly released tranche of files that the US department of justice published on Friday, including 180,000 images and 2,000 videos
‘What are you, [a] class 3 sexual predator?’ the interviewer asks Epstein.
‘Tier 1. I’m the lowest,’ the American financier responds.
He is asked whether the money he has earned over his lifetime is ‘dirty money’, to which Epstein responds: ‘No, it’s not.’
Pressed on why not, Epstein says: ‘Because I earned it.’
‘You earned it by advising the worst people in the world, that do enormous, bad things, and just to make more money,’ the interviewer says.
‘Ethics is always a complicated subject,’ Epstein hits back, before talking about the money he claims he donated to help eradicate polio in Pakistan and India.
‘Instead of asking me whether that money should be given to these children for vaccines, I think you might want to ask their mothers – who receive the vaccine, who know their child now won’t get polio – and ask them if Epstein should have helped these people with their money,’ he adds.
‘You’re a mathematician,’ the interviewer responds, before putting forward a hypothetical scenario in which Epstein walks into the clinic and tells the people ‘in the most dire straits of poverty and sickness’ that the money was coming from a ‘criminal’.
‘What percentage of people do you estimate would say, “I don’t care; I want the money for my children?” the interview asks.
‘I would say everyone says, “I want the money for my children”, Epstein responds.
More than three million new documents relating to the late sex offender were released by the US department of justice on Friday
An image from the latest release from the Epstein files
More than three million pages of documents related to the late sex offender were released on Friday.
The publication of the documents came six weeks after a December 19 deadline to release all the files, as mandated in the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which passed Congress and was signed into law in November.
US Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said Friday that the release ‘marks the end of a very comprehensive document identification and review process’, indicating that the US justice department views its role as complete.
However, Democrats continue to contend that the department has withheld a vast quantity of documents – potentially around two-and-a-half million – without proper justification.
Among the images published in the Epstein files are photographs showing Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor kneeling on all fours over a female lying on the ground.
He is staring directly at the camera in one, while in another he places his hand on the woman’s stomach, who is unidentified and remains fully clothed.
But like much of the material published by the US justice department on Epstein, no further context on where or when they were taken is given.
However, distinctive pieces of home decor seen in the background of the three images suggest Mountbatten-Windsor, was likely inside the paedophile financier’s seven-storey New York home.
These include a leopard-print chair, large mahogany doors and patterned floors -which have all been seen in images previously shared of the property.
Moreover, a picture of Woody Allen released by the US authorities in December also appears to have been taken inside the same room where Andrew was photographed.
The film director and his wife Soon-Yi Previn were reportedly regular guests at the £60million townhouse, which Epstein used to build his connections with the rich and powerful.
The former Duke of York, who has faced years of scrutiny over his past friendship with Epstein, has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.
Disturbing new images released as part of Friday’s Epstein files appear to show Andrew Mountbatten Windsor crouching on all fours over a female lying on the floor
It is unclear where the images where taken and no further context is given
Formerly known as Prince Andrew, Mountbatten-Windsor was stripped of his royal title in October after mounting scrutiny over his links to the late sex offender.
Among the released documents from Friday’s drop are emails that show Epstein had organised for the former Duke of York to have dinner with a 26-year-old Russian woman in London in 2010.
In a message sent to a contact saved as ‘The Duke’, the paedophile financier wrote: ‘I have a friend who i think you might enjoy having dinner with.’
In response, ‘The Duke’ writes: ‘Of course. I am in Geneva until the morning of 22nd but would be delighted to see her.’
‘Will she be bringing a message from you? Please give her my contact details to get in touch,’ he continues. The email was signed off ‘HRH The Duke of York KG’.
In another email ‘The Duke’ asks for more information about the woman.
‘She 26, russian, clevere [sic] beautiful, trustworthy and yes she has your email,’ Epstein writes.
‘The Duke’ replies: ‘That was quick! How are you? Good to be free?’
The emails were sent in August 2010, six months after Andrew celebrated his 50th birthday.
The arrangement was also proposed after Epstein was released from jail in July 2009, having served 13 months of an 18-month sentence for soliciting prostitution from a minor, for which he was registered as a sex offender.
A month after the dinner invitation, in September 2010, further emails between Epstein and ‘The Duke’ suggest Andrew invited the financier to have dinner with him at Buckingham Palace.
The disgraced former Prince appeared to say the pair could meet at the royal residence after the convicted sex trafficker asked for ‘private time’.
‘I am just departing Scotland should be down by 1800. I’ll ring you when I get down if you can give me a number to ring,’ the contact listed as ‘The Duke’ wrote.
‘Alternatively we could have dinner at Buckingham Palace and lots of privacy. A.’
Jeffrey Epstein organised for Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor to have dinner with a 26-year-old Russian woman in London in 2010, newly-released emails show
The prince, who would have been 50 at the time, cheerfully asked the convicted child sex predator, whose house arrest had finished just days earlier: ‘Good to be free?’
A second woman has alleged she was sent to the UK by Epstein to have sex with Mountbatten-Windsor.
It comes as the UK government continues to pressure the former prince to testify before the US Congress.
‘In terms of testifying, I have always said anybody who has got information should be prepared to share that information,’ Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer told reporters.
The alleged encounter is said to have taken place at his former 30-bedroom mansion, Royal Lodge, in Windsor, in 2010.
The woman, who is not British and was in her 20s at the time, said she was given a tour of Buckingham Palace and tea after spending the night with the former prince.
While the Palace records the names of visitors, it has not been possible to corroborate her claims without revealing her identity.
This is the second woman to allege that she was sent to the UK by Epstein to have sex with Mountbatten-Windsor.
Virginia Giuffre, who alleged that she was brought to London to have sex with the former Prince in 2001 when she was 17, was the first.
Ms Giuffre, who took her own life last April, said she was forced to have sex with Mountbatten-Windsor twice more in 2001 and 2002 – once in New York and again on Epstein’s private Caribbean island. Andrew has always denied Ms Giuffre’s claims.
It is the first time an Epstein survivor has claimed they were sexually abused at a royal residence.
Lord Peter Mandelson said he resigned his membership of the Labour Party to ‘avoid causing further embarrassment’ amid claims he received $75,000 from Epstein while he was an MP.
Bank statements released as part of the drop on Friday suggest the financier made three $25,000 transactions referencing Lord Mandelson between 2003 and 2004.
Separate emails between the two men show that in 2009 Epstein personally wired Lord Mandelson’s now husband, Reinaldo Avila da Silva, $10,000 to fund an osteopathy course and other expenses.
An extraordinary photograph has also emerged apparently of Lord Mandelson standing in his underpants and chatting to a woman who is wearing a white bath robe.
Lord Mandelson, who was sacked as US ambassador last year because of his links to the paedophile, said he does not recall receiving the payments or the photo being taken.
There is no suggestion of wrongdoing and he has consistently denied any sexual misconduct or awareness of Epstein’s crimes.
However, in an update on Sunday evening, the peer said he had written to Hollie Ridley, general secretary of the Labour Party, to say he was renouncing his membership.
In his letter, he said: ‘I have been further linked this weekend to the understandable furore surrounding Jeffrey Epstein and I feel regretful and sorry about this.
The photograph, which has been released as part of the Epstein files, apparently shows Lord Mandelson talking to a woman who is wearing a white bath robe
‘Allegations which I believe to be false that he made financial payments to me 20 years ago, and of which I have no record or recollection, need investigating by me.
‘While doing this I do not wish to cause further embarrassment to the Labour Party and I am therefore stepping down from membership of the party.’
Documents from Friday’s release appear to show Lord Mandelson suggesting to Epstein in 2009 that he would lobby the UK government over the matter of bankers’ bonuses.
An email dated December 15, 2009, which purports to be from Epstein, reads: ‘Any real chance of making the tax only on the cash portion of the bankers bonus.’
The reply, apparently from Lord Mandelson, reads: ‘Trying hard to amend as I explained to Jes last night. Treasury digging in but I am on case.’
The emails suggest the peer, then business secretary, was prepared to lobby the UK government over the so-called ‘super tax’, introduced in early December 2009 by then-chancellor Alistair Darling, to clamp down on bank profits being used to pay large bonuses for bankers in the wake of the financial crisis.
The files released on Friday include 1,056 documents naming Russian President Vladimir Putin and 9,629 referring to Moscow.
The release of more than three million new documents relating to the late sex offender gives credence to incendiary claims made by senior security officials: that Epstein was working on behalf of Moscow, and possibly Israel, when he facilitated assignations for some of the world’s most powerful men.
An intelligence source told the Daily Mail that Epstein running ‘the world’s largest honeytrap operation’ on behalf of the KGB when he procured women for his network of associates.
Sources say it could explain why Epstein appeared to enjoy an ultra-wealthy lifestyle out of kilter with his career as a financier, although there is no documentary evidence linking Putin and his spies directly to Epstein’s illicit activities.
