Elon Musk's wild claims about US President Donald Trump and the Epstein files amid public feud

7NEWS

a day ago

Tech billionaire Elon Musk has dropped a wild — and unsubstantiated — claim that US President Donald Trump is listed in the Epstein files, alleging this is why they have not been released to the public.
It comes amid an escalating feud between the former Trump administration insider and the president which is playing out on social media.
'@RealDonaldTrump is in the Epstein files. That is the real reason they have not been made public,' Musk wrote on X.
'Have a nice day, DJT!'
The White House later responded, calling the claims 'an unfortunate episode from Elon'.
Convicted child sex offender Epstein — who committed suicide in a New York jail in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges — reportedly entertained celebrities and politicians at his private island, Little St James.
The bulk of the so-called Epstein files remain sealed and Musk did not suggest how he could know what they contain, nor provide any evidence of where his information was coming from.
However, some parts of the files were released earlier this year including Trump's name listed on a flight log. Being named in the files is not necessarily a suggestion of wrongdoing, and a Trump insider noted the president — who was previously photographed with Epstein — had later banned the disgraced financier from his estate.
Musk's latest outburst comes after he previously said Trump should be impeached and replaced by Vice President JD Vance.
Trump had earlier lashed out at Musk, saying he asked the South African-born billionaire to leave his administration.
'Look, Elon and I had a great relationship. I don't know if we will anymore,' Trump said in the Oval Office on Thursday, US time.
'He said the most beautiful things about me, and he hasn't said bad about me personally but I'm sure that'll be next.
'But I'm, I'm very disappointed in Elon. I've helped Elon a lot.'
Trump earlier said the US could save money by terminating Musk's contracts with the government.
'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,' Trump wrote in a post on his Truth Social website.
Trump also asserted Musk's days of blistering attacks on his tax and spending cuts bill were motivated by the proposed elimination of consumer tax credits for electric vehicles.
Musk, the CEO of electric vehicle maker Tesla, has said he opposes the bill because it will increase federal deficits.
Trump also suggested Musk was upset because he missed working for Trump.
'He's not the first,' Trump said.
'People leave my administration ... then at some point they miss it so badly, and some of them embrace it and some of them actually become hostile.'
As Trump was speaking, Musk wrote on X: 'Slim Beautiful Bill for the win' — a reference to the bill's official title, the Big Beautiful Bill Act.
Musk followed that up with another post saying he was fine with the cuts to electric vehicle credits as long as Republicans removed what he called a 'mountain of disgusting pork' in wasteful spending from the bill.
Musk came into the Trump administration overseeing the Department of Government Efficiency with brash plans to cut $US2 trillion ($A3.1 trillion) out of the federal budget.
He left last week having achieved far less, having cut about half of one per cent of total spending.
Musk has formerly been a powerful Trump ally, spending nearly $US300 million ($A460 million) to boost Republicans in the 2024 election.
His work eliminating thousands of federal jobs and cutting billions of dollars in foreign aid and other programs caused disruption across federal agencies while prompting widespread protests at Tesla outlets in the US and Europe.
Tesla stock tumbled following Musk's departure from the administration.
— With AAP