Real photo shows Steve Bannon and Epstein taking mirror selfie

In late January 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice released more than 3 million files related to late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. In the days after, numerous social media users shared a photo purportedly showing U.S. President Donald Trump's ally and former chief strategist Steve Bannon taking a mirror selfie with Epstein. 

Billionaire Elon Musk reposted the picture on X along with the caption: "That's a real selfie pic with Bannon & Epstein."

In short, the photograph is authentic and was not created or altered using artificial intelligence tools. Democrats on the House Oversight Committee, which is the main investigative body in Congress, released the image in December 2025. As such, we rated this claim true.

The picture is viewable in files the Oversight Committee published on Dec. 11, 2025. 

(House Oversight Committee)

In addition to the mirror selfie of Bannon and Epstein, another photo shows them seated across from each other chatting in what appears to be Epstein's office.

(House Oversight Committee)

The latest Epstein file releases in 2026 showed what appeared to be friendly text message exchanges between Bannon and Epstein. According to footage from the files, Bannon also interviewed Epstein for at least two hours, and asked him questions like, "Do you think you're the devil himself?" The interview took place in 2019, before Epstein was arrested on sex trafficking charges. 

Snopes has fact-checked numerous images of Epstein with prominent people, including real and fake images of the disgraced financier alongside Trump and a fake image of Epstein next to British politician Nigel Farage. We have also covered dozens of claims pertaining to materials allegedly found in the Epstein files.