Elon Musk is back in the middle of controversy, and this time, he’s going straight at Donald Trump—again. The billionaire Tesla and SpaceX CEO is calling on the president to release all files related to Jeffrey Epstein, joining a growing number of conservatives who are demanding answers.
The drama kicked off after Trump posted on Truth Social Saturday, asking his supporters to stop attacking Attorney General Pam Bondi. That post didn’t sit well with Musk, who took to X (formerly Twitter) and responded with, “He said ‘Epstein’ half a dozen times while telling everyone to stop talking about Epstein.” Then Musk added, “Just release the files as promised.”
That wasn’t the end of it. Responding to another post about Trump calling for unity within his base, Musk took the gloves off, tweeting, “What the hell kind of system are we living in if thousands of kids were abused, the government has videos of the abusers and yet none of the abusers are even facing charges!?” He followed up with, “This is a very big deal.”
Musk’s tweets came just days after the Department of Justice and the FBI stated there was no secret list of Epstein’s clients. The agencies also reiterated that, despite the persistent conspiracy theories, Epstein died by suicide in jail, not by murder.
That announcement didn’t go over well with much of Trump’s MAGA base, which has long believed there’s more to the Epstein story. The result has been a very public split within the movement, with high-profile names—including Kash Patel and Dan Bongino—reportedly pushing for full disclosure but being shut down.
Musk wasn’t alone in calling out Trump. Former Trump strategist Steve Bannon also urged that all Epstein files be made public. He said Bondi should be demanding transparency on the issue instead of avoiding it.
But the feud escalated further when Musk accused Bannon of being involved himself. In response to a post from longtime Trump adviser Roger Stone, who questioned why Bannon had met with Epstein both in New York and Paris after Epstein’s conviction, Musk tweeted, “Back to prison for Bannon. He’s in the Epstein files.”
Bannon, who recently served four months in prison for contempt of Congress after refusing to cooperate with the January 6 committee, has not publicly responded to Musk’s claims. Musk doubled down on his accusations, throwing more fuel on the fire by suggesting this is why the files remain sealed.
And Musk didn’t stop at Bannon. In a now-deleted tweet, he went after Trump himself, writing, “Time to drop the really big bomb: @realDonaldTrump is in the Epstein files. That is the real reason they have not been made public. Have a nice day, DJT!” He later added, “Mark this post for the future. The truth will come out.”
Musk eventually walked some of that back, tweeting, “I regret some of my posts about President Donald Trump last week. They went too far.” But the damage may already be done. With MAGA supporters turning on each other, the Epstein files have become a powder keg—and Musk just lit the match.