Billionaire Elon Musk has seemingly removed posts on X, formerly Twitter, that he wrote in which he claimed that President Donald Trump was named in the much-discussed files of Jeffrey Epstein, a move that significantly escalated a feud between the two former allies.
Newsweek reached out to X and the White House for comment by email outside of normal business hours on Saturday.
Why It Matters
Musk gave over $200 million to Trump’s presidential campaign and called himself his “first buddy.”
Musk and Trump initiated a war of words this week after the tech mogul started attacking the House-approved spending bill, which the president has nicknamed the “One Big Beautiful Bill,” that will help him launch a wider effort to implement some of his broader economic and social reforms.
Musk, who spent four months rooting around the federal government with the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to cut “waste, fraud, and abuse,” criticized the bill as a “disgusting abomination” and that it was full of “pork,” a reference to abundant discretionary spending in a bill, known as “pork barrel spending.”
Trump hit back on his own social media platform Truth Social by saying he had asked Musk to leave government because he was “wearing thin,” to which Musk responded on X by writing that “Donald Trump is in the Epstein files. That is the real reason they have not been made public,” followed later by a post saying, “Mark this post for the future. The truth will come out.”
While it is known that Trump and Epstein were acquainted and photographed together in the early 2000s, Trump has long denied any involvement in Epstein’s criminal conduct.
What To Know
Musk had posted multiple times on Thursday about Trump being included in the Epstein files, an accusation that was previously leveled against the president and cleared in court along with the likes of former President Bill Clinton.
However, as of Saturday morning, those original posts have disappeared from Musk’s timeline, although it remains unclear if he deleted them himself or if X removed the posts due to some potential community rules violation.
However, two additional reposts about Trump and Epstein remain up on Musk’s timeline as of noon on Saturday: One by user @bjornpagen that showed two men locked in a firm grip, one labeled “Elon does ketamine” and the other “Trump on Epstein’s list,” to which Musk replied with a laughing emoji and a “bullseye” emoji; and another post by user @AGHamilton29 that discussed the “well established” connection between Trump and Epstein, to which Musk replied with an eyebrow-raised emoji.
Trump on Friday responded to Musk’s accusation by posting on Truth Social a message from Epstein’s former lawyer David Schoen from X, which claimed his client “had no information to hurt President Trump.”
“I was hired to lead Jeffrey Epstein’s defense as his criminal lawyer 9 days before he died. He sought my advice for months before that. I can say authoritatively, unequivocally, and definitively that he had no information to hurt President Trump. I specifically asked him!” Schoen, who briefly represented Epstein shortly before the financier’s death in 2019, wrote.
Thousands of pages of records that named people with ties to Epstein, who died while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges in 2019, have been released over the years.
However, there is no evidence to suggest Trump is mentioned in any unreleased files related to Epstein. And while the president is mentioned in some of the previously released court documents on Epstein, he has not been accused of any wrongdoing.
During his 2024 presidential campaign, Trump had suggested he would release files related to Epstein, with a first batch of those files released in February by U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi. Those files offered no major revelations about the sex trafficking case that has proven so popular among conspiracy theorists.
However, FBI Director Kash Patel told Fox News chief political anchor Bret Baier that the agency is “diligently working” on a review of all materials before releasing them to the public.
“It takes time to go through years of investigations, years of political maneuvering, and years of coverup to get the American people what they deserve, and that’s what I’m gonna give them, on everything,” Patel said.
What Happened to Epstein?
Epstein took his own life at the age of 66 in a jail cell at New York City’s Metropolitan Correctional Center in August 2019, before he could stand trial in Manhattan on sex-trafficking charges where he was accused of preying on underage girls as young as 14. Authorities determined he hanged himself. He always denied any wrongdoing.
At the time, Epstein was already a convicted sex offender after being found guilty by a Florida state court in 2008 of one count of soliciting prostitution and one count of soliciting prostitution from a minor.
What People Are Saying
President Donald Trump on Friday wrote on Truth Social: “I don’t mind Elon turning against me, but he should have done so months ago. This is one of the Greatest Bills ever presented to Congress. It’s a Record Cut in Expenses, $1.6 Trillion Dollars, and the Biggest Tax Cut ever given. If this Bill doesn’t pass, there will be a 68% Tax Increase, and things far worse than that. I didn’t create this mess, I’m just here to FIX IT. This puts our Country on a Path of Greatness. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
Far-right political activist Laura Loomer wrote on X on Saturday: “[JD Vance] was on [Theo Von] when [Elon Musk] went nuclear on President Trump. He was asked during the interview what he thought about Elon accusing President Trump of being in the Epstein files. Talk about awkward. Donald Trump is not in the Epstein Files. Do you really think Elon would have allowed his own small child to be around President Trump and travel with him if President Trump was in the Epstein files? Let’s all think logically here. President Trump was great to Elon and he was great to Elon’s children. President Trump is an amazing man and deep down Elon knows that too.”
Elon Musk wrote on X in reply to another post by Loomer on Thursday: “Oh and some food for thought as they ponder this question: Trump has 3.5 years left as President, but I will be around for 40+ years …”
What Happens Next?
The aftermath of the very public fight between the two former allies continues to tease further escalations, with Trump threatening to review Musk’s government contracts and warning of further consequences if Musk starts to fund Democrats in elections.
The post Elon Musk’s X Posts About Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein Disappear appeared first on Newsweek.
