The beef between Elon Musk and President Trump reached new heights Thursday as their public spat over the One Big Beautiful Bill Act turned personal.
“Time to drop the really big bomb: @realDonaldTrump is in the Epstein files,” Mr. Musk said on X, shortly before the president was set to meet with the Fraternal Order of Police at the White House. “That is the real reason they have not been made public.”
He added snarkily, “Have a nice day, DJT!”
Later, in response to a post on X calling for Mr. Trump’s impeachment, Mr. Musk responded, “Yes.”
The White House was sent a request for comment. Mr. Trump did not respond to reporters’ questions about Epstein at the FOP event, where Attorney General Pam Bondi joined him. The president did call on Congress to pass the tax-cut bill as soon as possible.
Mr. Musk’s scorched-earth claim about Epstein and the president came about a half-hour after Mr. Trump said 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!” he said on Truth Social.
Mr. Trump also posted after Mr. Musk aired out the Epstein theory.
“I don’t mind Elon turning against me, but he should have done so months ago,” Mr. Trump said. “This is one of the Greatest Bills ever presented to Congress.”
Mr. Musk, the owner of X and CEO of SpaceX, poured millions of dollars into the Trump campaign last year and backed the president by serving in the Department of Government Efficiency before leaving the administration late last month.
He has since launched a war against Mr. Trump’s signature economic proposal, which is making its way through the GOP-controlled Congress.
The bill would extend the 2017 Trump tax cuts, and add $2.4 trillion to deficits over the next decade, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.
Mr. Musk has focused on how the measure would add to the nation’s $36 trillion national debt.
However, others surmise Mr. Musk is angry because he wanted to stay in his DOGE advisory role, the legislation eliminates an electric-vehicle tax credit that boosted Tesla sales, and Mr. Trump withdrew the nomination of the person whom Mr. Musk wanted to lead NASA.
The breakup has spilled over into the public eye in a significant way, as the leader of the free world and the wealthiest man on the planet have traded barbs over Mr. Trump’s “big, beautiful bill.”
Mr. Musk said the proposal is a “disgusting abomination” and urged Americans to call their congressmen to “KILL the BILL.”
The president countered on social media, “Elon was ’wearing thin,’ I asked him to leave, I took away his EV Mandate that forced everyone to buy Electric Cars that nobody else wanted (that he knew for months I was going to do!), and he just went CRAZY!”
Except for liberals hoping Mr. Trump appears in the Epstein files, hardly anyone has accused the president of being involved with the late sex offender.
Mr. Trump, who was in office when Epstein was arrested in 2019, suggested on the campaign trail last year that he would seek to open the government’s files on Jeffrey Epstein, the well-connected financier who police said killed himself in jail after he was arrested for sex trafficking.
However, that file release hasn’t yet occurred, and the administration has been under pressure to do so.
The story has animated the MAGA movement and conservatives who have raised alarms about the deep state and related conspiracy theories, including that Mr. Epstein didn’t commit suicide but was murdered.
FBI Director Kash Patel and his deputy, Dan Bongino, have thrown cold water on the claims, saying Epstein indeed killed himself in the Manhattan prison in August 2019.
Meanwhile, Ms. Bondi has said FBI officials are sifting through “tens of thousands” of videos related to Epstein and will make more material public once they take steps to protect the victims.
• This story is based in part on wire service reports.
• Seth McLaughlin can be reached at smclaughlin@washingtontimes.com.