Trump-Musk feud live updates: Elon deletes tweet claiming the president is in the Epstein files amid public spat

This week, the two former allies bitterly fell out with each sharing strong accusations against the other on social media.

Musk, who infamously invested millions into Trump’s campaign and quickly dubbed himself “first buddy,” became the head of the Department of Government Efficiency. The department was tasked with slashing the federal budget. However, Musk soon found himself ousted from the president’s inner circle after clashing with Trump over his proposed spending bill.

Greg Evans has the story:

James Liddell and Alicja Hagopian write:

Musk harnessed his social media platform to propel Donald Trump to the White House, feeding anti-Democrat content and election conspiracy theories to his followers. Now Musk is turning that same platform – home to nearly 600 million monthly users – against him.

Elon Musk has deleted his tweet in which he claimed that Donald Trump is in “the Epstein Files.”

Musk initially shared the post on Thursday as the spat between him and the president exploded over a disagreement over Trump’s congressional spending bill.

The billionaire also suggested that Trump should be impeached.

“The Epstein Files” is a phrase used to describe information that U.S. authorities hold on the disgraced financier and convicted sex offender who died in a Manhattan jail cell in 2019.

By Saturday morning, Musk’s post alleging Trump is in the files had been removed.

Vice President JD Vance defended Trump during an appearance on Theo Von’s podcast, as the host brought up the now-deleted tweet by Elon Musk claiming that the president is included in the “Epstein Files.”

“Donald Trump didn’t do anything wrong with Jeffrey Epstein,” said Vance. “Whatever the Democrats and the media say about him, that’s totally BS.”

“First of all, I’m the Vice President to President Trump. My loyalties are always going to be with the President,” Vance added. “And I think that Elon, he’s an incredible entrepreneur. He’s actually done, I think DOGE was really good. This sort of effort to root out waste, fraud, and abuse in our country is really good.”

“And look, man, I’m always going to be loyal to the President, and I hope that eventually Elon kind of comes back into the fold. Maybe that’s not possible now, because he’s gone so nuclear,” said Vance.

The internet used the feud used to blast memes across social media.

“Elon finally found a way to make Twitter fun again,” former senior Obama adviser and podcast host Dan Pfeiffer summarised in a post on X.

“BREAKING: Vladimir Putin has offered to negotiate a peace deal between President Trump and Elon Musk,” X user Amuse wrote.

One user shared a meme from Mean Girls of Musk writing about Trump in the “Burn Book.”

Democratic Rep. Melanie Stansbury of New Mexico shared a meme about the blow-up: “Real Housewives of Pennsylvania Ave,” the congresswoman posted.

Read more by Rhian Lubin here:

Mass deportations enabled by the Trump administration’s Big, Beautiful Bill spending and tax package could cost the U.S. over $1 trillion in the coming years, as the administration is already reportedly struggling to fund its rapidly expanding immigration crackdown.

The package, which the House of Representatives passed last month, directs $168 billion towards immigration and border law enforcement agencies.

That spending, combined with the economic impact of removing scores of immigrants and more granular changes, like a potential decline in revenues thanks to the possible deterrent effect of new fees on migrants, could cost the U.S. over $1.4 trillion over the next decade, according to an analysis from the libertarian Cato Institute.

Read more from Josh Marcus:

Reporters asked President Donald Trump if he was still considering cutting Elon Musk’s government contracts and subsidies after he threatened to do so on Thursday.

Trump said that Musk “gets a lot of subsidy,” and that he was going to “look at” what he’s getting and consider cutting them, but “only if it’s fair for him and for the country.”

On Thursday, Trump and Musk were embroiled in a public spat that saw the Tesla CEO agree with a call for the president’s impeachment and insinuate that he was on notorious rapist and child sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein’s client list.

Trump responded by threatening to end Musk’s government contracts and subsidies, ostensibly as a way to save the American public money, and questioned why former President Joe Biden hadn’t done so during his time in office.

Musk was once Trump’s critic and became his friend as the Tesla head pushed further right in his political leanings. It hit its apex after the assassination attempt on Trump in July. Musk then joined Trump on the campaign and quickly dubbed himself ‘first buddy.’ That led to Musk becoming the head of the Department of Government Efficiency, which was tasked with slashing the federal budget.

The relationship turned sour as the two disagreed over Trump’s spending bill. Musk left the White House and the two remained friendly, at least in public. That changed as Musk posted criticism of the bill online and culminating with the meltdown on social media between the two.

Read more here about their history together:

President Donald Trump is thinking of getting rid of the red Tesla that he bought from Elon Musk earlier this year.

He is considering either selling theModel S electric vehicle, priced at around $80,000, or giving it away, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing a senior White House official.

The car was pictured Friday parked outside the West Wing between the White House and the Eisenhower Executive Office Building.

It comes after Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla, lost $34 billion in net worth on Thursday after his company’s stock plummeted in response to the online fight.

Patel, who has come under fire from MAGA supporters in recent weeks for backing away from conspiracy theories about disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein now that he leads the FBI, appeared taken aback by Elon Musk’s wild tweets about Donald Trump’s lengthy past relationship with Epstein.

“That’s way outside my lane,” Patel demurred while Rogan wondered “what the f*ck” was going on between the president and his former “first buddy.”