WASHINGTON — Elon Musk went low in his rapidly escalating feud with President Trump Thursday, accusing him of withholding information from the public about the infamous sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein because it would implicate Trump himself.
“Time to drop the really big bomb,” Musk posted on X after a multi-hour tirade against the president. “@realDonaldTrump is in the Epstein files.”
“That is the real reason they have not been made public,” he claimed. “Have a nice day, DJT!”
The Justice Department in February released more than 100 pages of Epstein’s phone contacts and flight logs in a “Phase One” disclosure that disappointed internet sleuths hoping for bombshell revelations.
The disgraced financier’s association with Trump has been known for years as the two were videotaped and photographed together at parties in the 1990s, and the initial batch of DOJ-released files revealed the president’s name in flight logs as well as some family members — including Trump’s first wife Ivana and daughter Ivanka — as Epstein contacts.
Aides privately have acknowledged that the president’s association with Epstein likely would resurface in a fuller release of files — though they don’t believe that any alleged wrongdoing by Trump is described.
“This is an unfortunate episode from Elon, who is unhappy with the One Big Beautiful Bill because it does not include the policies he wanted,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said. “The President is focused on passing this historic piece of legislation and making our country great again.”
The contact list and flight logs appeared to be pulled directly from Epstein’s “little black book,” one of which was made public in 2021 during his accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell’s trial and another of which was auctioned off.
That 1990s-era contact list contains 349 names, 221 of which weren’t included in a 2015 revealing of Epstein associates by the website Gawker.
The black book being auctioned off reportedly contains 94 printed entries with “black, hand-applied checkmarks, and five have been highlighted in yellow,” according to Alexander Historical Auctions.
“All five names, including that of Donald Trump, are well-recognized financial and industrial figures,” the online auctioneer’s webpage notes.
Here is the latest on Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s feud
Online conspiracists have long speculated that high-power “clients” of Epstein visited his private island Little St. James in the Caribbean, where many young women and underage girls were allegedly abused.
Trump, former President Bill Clinton, Bill Gates and Prince Andrew are just some of the famous passengers the financier flew on other trips aboard his private plane, later nicknamed the “Lolita Express.”
Epstein was found dead with bedsheets around his neck in the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan on Aug. 10, 2019, just over a month after his arrest on sex trafficking charges.
Last September, Trump said he’d have “no problem” releasing more official files related to Epstein if elected — including the deceased pedophile’s so-called “client list.”
“I don’t think – I mean, I’m not involved,” he noted. “I never went to his island, fortunately, but a lot of people did.”
The president reportedly banned Epstein from Mar-a-Lago in 2007 over an incident with a club member’s teen daughter.
Attorney General Pam Bondi has demanded the complete files be turned over to the DOJ after hinting at the FBI’s New York Field Office being “in possession of thousands of pages of documents related to the investigation and indictment of Epstein.”
The ravings of the world’s richest man, who until last month led Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency cost-cutting crusade, shocked official Washington and set off speculation about Musk’s state of mind.
One source close to the White House explained Musk’s behavior by saying that he “fundamentally has an unstable, uncontrollable element to his personality and he lashes out.”
“He’s had similar outbursts when running his companies. Sometimes greatest strength can also be greatest weakness,” this person said.
“Revenge, yes. Also, he wanted not just [electric vehicle] mandates [in Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act] but a level of exclusivity for Tesla on the American EV market. And he didn’t want fresh competitors like Faraday Future & others to cramp his style.”
A second source close to the administration said there was a 50/50 chance Musk was either “just throwing a temper tantrum” or “creating distance [from Trump] thinking it’ll help [Tesla] stock price.”
A third source noted: “If Elon truly thought the President was more deeply involved with Epstein, why did he hang out with him for six months and say he ‘loves him as much as a straight man can love a straight man?’”
Democrats grab popcorn
Democrats watched the social media food fight with glee Thursday after months of flailing for traction amid unified Republican government in Washington — as Trump threatened to end billions in federal funding for SpaceX and Tesla, while Musk’s opposition threatened to tank Trump’s bill to implement campaign pledges to ax taxes on tips, overtime and Social Security.
“The Trump-Musk feud is like a reality TV episode of the ‘Real Housewives’, only with less stable people,” snarked Robert Zimmerman, a Democratic National Committeeman from New York.
“It is just further proof this is all personal and about lining their own pockets and no one is actually doing what is good for the American people,” jabbed a high-ranking former Biden White House official.
A congressional Democratic source noted that Musk was Trump’s top financial backer in the 2024 election, making the sudden onset and ferocity of the feud even more shocking.
“Now that the Trump experiment to use the richest man in the world as his cash cow drone has failed, Trump must recalibrate or this will be a real problem for him, politically and personally,” the source said.
“For Donald Trump to have not seen this coming makes you both question everything, and worry.”
