Elon Musk on Thursday rapidly escalated his feud with Donald Trump, accusing the president of stalling the release of “the Epstein files” because of his apparent friendship with the late accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.
“Time to drop the really big bomb: @realDonaldTrump is in the Epstein files. That is the real reason they have not been made public,” he wrote as part of a flurry of posts on X.
The allegation came after a day of sniping back and forth between the two men, who just days ago were close confidantes and gave a press conference together celebrating their work on DOGE.
It all began when Trump signaled during an Oval Office meeting with the chancellor of Germany that his relationship with the Tesla CEO had been badly damaged after Musk went public with criticism of the “one big, beautiful bill” that Trump has championed.
“Elon and I had a great relationship,” Trump told reporters when asked about the pair’s relationship. “I don’t know that we will anymore.”
Trump later returned to the subject, saying: “He hasn’t said [anything] bad about me personally, but I’m sure that’ll be next. I’m very disappointed in Elon.”
Within minutes, Musk, who recently departed the administration, had responded on X.
“Without me, Trump would have lost the election, Dems would control the House and the Republicans would be 51-49 in the Senate,” he wrote. “Such ingratitude.”
Musk capped his flurry of criticism with the bombshell Epstein allegation, adding: “Have a nice day, DJT!”
Epstein’s ties to Trump have been well reported. In 2015, Gawker published a copy of the Palm Beach socialite’s “little black book,” which contained a long list of celebrities and luminaries in a number of fields who he met over the years. Its authenticity was later confirmed by the FBI.
Trump’s name, along with a number of other high-profile associates such as Prince Andrew, Alan Dershowitz, several of former President Bill Clinton’s White House staffers and Ehud Barak, the former Prime Minister of Israel, appeared in the tome. He has also been pictured on several occasions with Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, a close associate of Epstein’s who was later convicted of sex trafficking.
He definitely is. Trump and Epstein were mingling all the time https://t.co/JnOQX8fK8H pic.twitter.com/VYkcx4O6hq
— Øyvind (@oyvindtomcat) June 5, 2025
With its constellation of bold-face names and salacious implications, the “little black book” served to fuel a public interest boom in Epstein’s case.
He was hit with federal sex trafficking charges in 2019, but died in a Manhattan jail cell shortly after his arrest in what authorities concluded was a suicide.
The incident led to an explosion of conspiracy theories — both about Epstein’s death and about the reach of his alleged sex trafficking operation. The issue has become a cause célèbre within Trump’s MAGA movement, with Attorney General Pam Bondi promising on multiple occasions to release never-before-seen “Epstein files” gathered during federal authorities’ yearslong investigation.
In February, Bondi invited a host of right-wing influencers to the White House for a much-hyped event, in which they were handed binders of information about the case that had largely already been made public.
Musk’s Thursday outburst capped a stunning falling-out between he and Trump.
In his Oval Office remarks, Trump said that Musk’s opposition to the sweeping reconciliation bill was due to its repeal of electric vehicle credits. Scrapping the policy, which incentivizes consumers to buy electric vehicles like those produced by Tesla, would likely result in a big hit to the company’s business.
“I’m very disappointed, because Elon knew the inner workings of this bill better than almost anybody sitting here, better than you people,” Trump said. “He knew everything about it. He had no problem with it. All of a sudden he had a problem, and he only developed the problem when he found out that we’re going to have to cut the EV mandate, because that’s billions and billions of dollars. And it really is unfair.”
Musk bristled at the characterization in a post made before Trump had even finished speaking.
“False, this bill was never shown to me even once and was passed in the dead of night so fast that almost no one in Congress could even read it,” he wrote. Musk also highlighted Trump’s past opposition to several of the bill’s measures, especially estimates that show it would add trillions to the national debt. “Where is this guy today?” he wrote above a screenshot of Trump’s own social media posts about the dangers posed by deficit spending.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Musk’s remarks.
It’s not the only point of contention between the two men, who were close confidantes just weeks ago.
Just before Musk officially stepped back from his work with the Department of Government Efficiency, Trump pulled the nomination for Jason Isaacson, Musk’s preferred pick, to lead NASA.
“I can understand why he is upset,” Trump said of Musk’s response to the fallout from Isaacman’s nomination.
But the president blamed “Trump derangement syndrome” for Musk’s recent about-face, saying that he likely “missed” the glamour of working in the White House.
“He’s not the first. People leave my administration, and they love us, and then at some point they miss it so badly,” Trump said. “They leave and they wake up in the morning, and the glamour is gone, the whole world is different.”
Musk didn’t dispel that notion in his Thursday posting spree. Fondly recalling his time in the president’s inner circle, he shared a video of Trump singing Tesla’s praises during an event on the White House lawn. “Remember this? @realDonaldTrump,” he wrote.
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Brett Bachman is a senior editor for breaking news at NOTUS.