Elon Musk accuses rival billionaire of trying to ‘destroy' Trump to stop ‘Epstein List' from coming out
Elon Musk made wild accusations about 'known clients' of convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein during an appearance on Joe Rogan's right-wing podcast, claiming former President Bill Clinton, Microsoft founder Bill Gates and LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman were all worried about being named in the so-called 'Epstein List.'
Additionally, the world's richest man and Donald Trump's 'first buddy' claimed Hoffman was 'so intent on destroying Trump' during the 2024 presidential election, specifically to keep the 'list from coming out.'
Musk taped his appearance on The Joe Rogan Experience, which was released on Friday afternoon, just after Attorney General Pam Bondi released the 'first phase' of the 'Epstein files' to a cadre of MAGA influencers on Thursday. Despite hyping the release of the supposedly secret FBI documents as a bombshell, the binders Bondi delivered to Trump supporters turned out to contain very little new information about Epstein's criminal cases.
Instead, the roughly 200 pages of documents mainly consisted of flight logs on Epstein's planes and some contact information of his hundreds of associates, including Donald Trump, as well as an inventory of some of the items found in the homes that the FBI raided.
What wasn't included, though, was any fresh allegations about Epstein or any other associates, prompting the MAGA faithful to rage about the lack of new evidence while alleging a 'Deep State' conspiracy.
Sensing the anger from the right, who have long used the Epstein case to fuel other conspiracy theories, Bondi instructed New York's FBI field office to turn over 'all records, documents, audio and video recordings, and materials related to Jeffrey Epstein and his clients, regardless of how such information was obtained' by Friday morning.
Midway through their three-hour-long chat, Rogan cited the criminal cases against Trump as part of a Democratic-led 'lawfare' campaign to prevent him from running for office again. Musk, meanwhile, noted that Hoffman helped back columnist E. Jean Carroll's lawsuit against Trump, which found the president liable for sexual abuse and defamation.
'That lawsuit was funded by Reid Hoffman, who is a major Dem donor and also an Epstein client,' the DOGE chief alleged.
'The plot thickens!' Rogan responded. 'Jesus Christ, it's just so blatant. It's like so obvious. The SpaceX lawsuit, the Trump stuff, it's just so obvious.'
With the conspiracy-peddling podcaster setting the stage, Musk then accused Hoffman of trying to keep Trump from returning to the White House in order to prevent FBI evidence against Epstein and possibly others from being made public.
'Known Epstein clients who are obviously extremely powerful – powerful politically and very wealthy – are Bill Gates, Bill Clinton and Reid Hoffman,' Musk alleged. 'And some others, too. But those three.'
While a stunned-looking Rogan let out an exasperated sigh, Musk added: 'Why was Reid Hoffman so intent on destroying Trump?'
After Rogan asked if 'they were worried about the list coming out,' the X (formerly Twitter) owner flatly replied: 'Yeah.'
The two would go on to express their frustration about 'sitting in the situation where the list isn't coming out,' with Rogan complaining that Thursday's document dump had 'nothing in it that's new.'
Musk, on the other hand, reiterated that Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel are now the 'captain of a ship with a hostile crew,' suggesting that they are the victims of a coverup by career officials working for them.
This isn't the first time that Musk has pushed baseless claims about Hoffman as it relates to his relationship with Epstein.
During an interview with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson in October, the SpaceX CEO said Hoffman was one of the 'billionaires behind Kamala' Harris who were 'terrified' over the prospect of Epstein's client list becoming public. Additionally, Musk approvingly retweeted a post that claimed the billionaire was 'TERRIFIED about Trump releasing the Epstein client list after all his visits to Epstein Island.'
In an interview with The Sunday Times in December, Hoffman said Musk had made a 'conviction with no evidence' that he had a close relationship with Epstein and partied with the disgraced financier – who committed suicide in 2019 while awaiting trial over sex crimes.
Hoffman added that he also had received threats of violence and had to hire security due to Musk's conspiracy theories about him.
Hoffman said in 2019 that he regretted helping to 'repair' Epstein's reputation by introducing him to tech moguls in prior years while he sought donations to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He claimed that Epstein had passed MIT's 'vetting process' at the time, adding: 'My lesson is I should go do my own research.'
At the same time, Hoffman claimed that he 'went to no Epstein parties' and wasn't really familiar with the financier's sullied reputation at the time.
Adding that he didn't associate with Epstein after 2015, he speculated that Musk's sordid claims about him were 'seeded when he invited his old friend to an MIT fundraising dinner that was also attended by Epstein in 2015.'
'Elon's defamation makes me angry and sad,' he told the Times. 'Angry because it is an ugly assault. Sad because it comes from someone whose entrepreneurial achievements I continue to admire.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mail
34 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Vance slams Newsom over LA ICE riots
By Published: | Updated: Vice President JD Vance ridiculed California Governor Gavin Newsom, as he struggled to handle violent protests in California in response to ICE deportations. The social media duel between the two ambitious politicians was a messaging preview if the two leaders ultimately one day face each other in the upcoming 2028 presidential election. Trump told reporters he even supported the idea of his immigration czar Tom Homan arresting Newsom for doing a 'terrible job' as governor as he returned to the White House from Camp David. Newsom reacted on social media, expressing shock at Trump's comments. 'The President of the United States just called for the arrest of a sitting Governor,' Newsom wrote. 'This is a day I hoped I would never see in America.' 'Do your job. That's all we're asking,' Vance replied on X. Newsom appears eager to take his political career to a national level after he is prevented from running again for governor in 2026, thanks to term limits. Vance, who many expect to be the heir to the MAGA movement remained widely supportive of President Trump's action to send the military to help quell the riots.
The Guardian
38 minutes ago
- The Guardian
‘It's just daily life': Kyiv residents get used to overnight Russian drone attacks
It only occurred to Iryna Yakymehuk to make use of the local bomb shelter after the Shaheed kamizake drone struck her nextdoor neighbour's fifth-floor flat at 2am on Tuesday, taking a messy bite out of the bedroom. The 22-year-old had returned to her home in Kyiv's Obolon district from the underwear shop where she works as an assistant at about 9pm. She ate macaroni while swiping through some funny TikTok videos before getting into bed at 11pm. Russia has stepped up its aerial attacks on Kyiv in recent days. From the safety of Washington, Donald Trump had warned that Vladimir Putin's response to Ukraine's audacious Operation Spiderweb attack on Russia's nuclear-capable bombers a week earlier 'wouldn't be pretty'. But Yakymehuk doesn't look for that sort of content on TikTok. Air raid sirens, and talk of drones and missiles, have been par for the course for Kyiv's residents since Vladimir Putin launched his full-scale invasion three years ago. A car dealership was destroyed by falling debris from a shot-down missile a couple of years ago, but otherwise the Obolon district in north Kyiv, 6 miles from the government buildings in the city centre, has avoided the worst. 'I am a deep sleeper, so I don't normally hear the drones,' Yakymehuk said as she was queueing with others in front of a blue tent where police were taking down details and volunteers were giving out compensation forms to fill in. 'It's just daily life, I don't think about it,' she added, squinting up in the morning sun at the demolition workers dangling from cranes at the corner of the 25-storey apartment building as they sought to make the site safe. The window frame of her bedroom had been blown in, and was dangling at an angle. On Monday the drones did wake her. They seemed to be on top of her, she said. And the persistent, nagging buzz of what seemed to be a large number of them was getting louder, as if someone was slowly bringing a electric shaver ever closer to her face. Then the first massive explosion that made her heart jump. And a second. This one sent 'sparks' flying across her bedroom window on the fifth floor, she said. Yakymehuk ran down the stairs from her flat, as did others, out of the building and to the bomb shelter – a dusty cellar, in reality, below another building, 100 metres away. The door to it is not always unlocked. But it was tonight. There were hundreds in there already, 'maybe 500 people', she said. Others in the queue outside the tent on Tuesday morning said they heard 10 explosions in all. Black smoke was still bellowing from the neighbouring industrial estate at mid-morning. This appears to have been the target. One woman in the Obolon district had been killed. Across Kyiv, four were said to be injured. Seven of Kyiv's 10 districts reported being hit in one of the largest drone attacks on the city since the war started. Yakymehuk might not sleep so well in future. Kyiv could be any European capital during the day. It is a far cry from the opening months of the war, when it resembled European cities during the pandemic. Then the streets were empty. The shops locked up. There was a nervous energy among the soldiers at checkpoints that would make everyone else anxious. And the Russians wanted Kyiv. They had been at the edge of the city and could come back. Sign up to Headlines Europe A digest of the morning's main headlines from the Europe edition emailed direct to you every week day after newsletter promotion Today, the atmosphere is different. The nightlife is lively, restaurants full, and those with money flash it around. Some people are nervous as it gets dark. That's when the Russian bombers and their drones come, increasingly so in recent weeks, even before Operation Spiderweb. The nerves are especially acute among those who live near factories and industrial estates, which the Kremlin suspects of playing a role in Ukraine's war effort. They listen in their beds for the drones to drop, breathing a little easier as they pass by. But others, maybe the majority, ignore the air raid sirens and assure themselves that the drones won't come for them. They get on with it. It is only when an attack from the air comes to your own doorstep that the reality of the situation bites, said Elvira Neehyporenko, 34, whose red Honda, parked just below where the Shaheed drone struck, had taken a hefty blow, leaving it with smashed windows and a caved-in roof. Neehyporenko lives in the same block as Yakymehuk but further away from the where the drone struck. She laughed as she admitted that when the explosions began, a little distant at first, it was her dog Molly, an American Staffordshire terrier, who had the sense to run into the bathroom. Neehyporenko, whose boyfriend is in the army and fighting in Kharkiv, followed the dog. She stayed there for a while on the cold tiles, before the biggest explosion forced her down to the first floor, where she stayed for fear of what she had heard was a Russian tactic of striking at people as they flee from damaged buildings. Standing watching all the commotion outside the flats mid-morning on Tuesday was Oksana Kodynets, 23, who lives in the apartment block opposite where the drone struck. She was taking her 18-month-old daughter, Maria, for a walk. Her husband is in the army and had been working an overnight shift in the city. She had been alone last night and was a little shaken this morning, she admitted. She had recorded the sound of the explosions, including the largest one, just over the way, and had been listening to them this morning. It was a kind of metallic sound, nothing like she had heard before, she said, as she played it from her phone. Does she worry? 'I did last night,' she said with a half-smile. 'I thought it was going to be the last day of my life.'
Daily Mail
41 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Spirit Airlines flight thrown into chaos by last-minute bomb threat that triggered mass panic
A bone-headed passenger booked on a Spirit Airlines flight out of Detroit called in a fake bomb threat after learning he would miss his trip - sparking hysteria at the airport and forcing the flight to be canceled. John Charles Robinson, of Monroe, Michigan, is accused of calling Detroit Metropolitan Airport on Friday morning and reporting that a person planned to blow up the Los Angeles-bound plane. The 23-year-old had a ticket for Spirit Airlines Flight 2145 but missed the boarding window, according to the US Attorney's Office. After learning at the gate that he had to reschedule his trip, Robinson called the airport at around 6:25am and told the alarming lie, authorities said. 'I was calling about 2145… because I have information about that flight,' he told an employee, according to an affidavit. 'There's gonna be someone who's gonna try to blow up the gonna be someone that's gonna try to blow up that flight, 2145.' Robinson then described a person carrying a bomb, claiming the individual planned to bring it into the airport undetected, authorities said. 'Please don't let that flight board,' he allegedly pleaded. The flight was immediately canceled, forcing passengers and crew off the aircraft. Bomb-sniffing dogs and FBI agents swarmed the plane but found nothing. FBI agents learned Robinson had missed the flight and arrested him when he returned to the airport for his rescheduled trip to LA. Officials said the suspect admitted to making the call, ABC News reported. Robinson allegedly confirmed the phone number used to make the call was his and gave written permission to agents to search the device. He was charged with using a cellphone to threaten/maliciously convey false information concerning an attempt or alleged attempt to damage/destroy an airplane by means of an explosive, as well false information and hoaxes. Robinson appeared in court on Friday and was released on $10,000 bond. He is scheduled to appear before a judge again on June 27. 'No American wants to hear the words "bomb" and "airplane" in the same sentence,' US Attorney Jerome F. Gorgon, Jr. said. 'Making this kind of threat undermines our collective sense of security and wastes valuable law enforcement resources.' Faux bomb threats are punishable by fines, prison time and felony charges. Culprits can face up to five years in custody, according to the Department of Justice.
