The sudden war of words between President Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk took several dramatic turns Thursday.
Musk has now accused Trump of appearing in the files of deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, while Trump has hinted that he may cancel billions of dollars in contracts Musk’s companies hold with the federal government.
Elon Musk dropped a bombshell Epstein allegation against Trump
“Time to drop the really big bomb,” tweeted Elon Musk in a Thursday afternoon post on X, the social media site he owns. “@realDonaldTrump is in the Epstein files. That is the real reason they have not been made public. Have a nice day, DJT!” Musk tweeted to Trump, for whom Musk worked until leaving his White House position last week.
The message, posted at 3:10 p.m. ET Thursday, indicated that information about Trump appears in the unreleased files of deceased millionaire Jeffrey Epstein, a former socialite and convicted sex offender who died by suicide in 2019 while in jail. Epstein’s death has since been the subject of conspiracy theories, including among many MAGA supporters. Trump supporters are also among those who have demanded the government release the so-called “Epstein files” that they believe detail who else may have been involved in the sex crimes for which Epstein was jailed. Trump is one of the many celebrities known to have been friends with Epstein, and Trump supporters have expressed anger at delays in the release of information from the Epstein case.
It was all good just a week ago
Musk’s accusation is the latest in the breakdown of his relationship with Trump. The two appeared to be on friendly terms last week when Musk left his White House position to return to running his companies, which include X, SpaceX and Tesla. But over the past week, Musk has stepped up his criticism of Trump’s “big, beautiful bill,” arguing that the legislation will significantly add to the national deficit and undo the spending cuts that Musk pushed through via his DOGE agency.
The disagreement between Musk and Trump got increasingly heated Thursday. Trump publicly criticized Musk, saying that the Tesla owner supported the bill until he found out it would cut electric vehicle funding; Musk denied the allegation.
Musk also claimed that “without me, Trump would have lost the election, Dems would control the House and the Republicans would be 51-49 in the Senate,” and accused the president of “ingratitude.”
At around 2:37 p.m. Thursday afternoon, Trump escalated things further, posting on his Truth Social network, “The easiest way to save money in our Budget, Billions and Billions of Dollars, is to terminate Elon’s Governmental Subsidies and Contracts. I was always surprised that Biden didn’t do it!”
Shortly after this tweet threatening Musk’s government contracts, which have amounted to at least $38 billion over more than 20 years, according to a Washington Post report, Musk made his Epstein tweet.
As of late Thursday afternoon, Musk was still regularly tweeting about this situation. In one post, he responded “Yes” to a suggestion that Trump be impeached and replaced with Vice President JD Vance.
With such heated accusations and threats flying back and forth between Trump and Musk, it’s unlikely that their feud will end soon or that their once close working relationship will be restored.
The post Donald Trump, Elon Musk Take Feud Public As Musk Says Trump Is ‘In The Epstein Files’ appeared first on Blavity.
