Elon Musk
is tweeting through it.
Musk, a former advisor to
President Trump
, had a very public falling out with the White House less than a week after leaving the administration.
Musk publicly criticized Trump’s so-called “big beautiful” spending bill and proposed tax cuts.
In the Oval Office on Thursday, Trump expressed his disappointment with Musk’s criticism, saying he was “very disappointed” in someone he’d “helped a lot.”
Trump said Musk, the CEO and founder of Tesla, “only developed a problem” with the bill because it rolls back tax credits for electric vehicles.
Trump also downplayed Musk’s impact on the 2024 election — during which the CEO spent more than
$200 million
on Trump’s campaign, as well as on the campaigns of other Republicans.
The president said he believed he would have “easily anyway.”
Musk quickly responded in a series of posts on X.
“Without me, Trump would have
lost the election
, Dems would control the House and the Republicans would be 51-49 in the Senate,” he wrote.
“Such ingratitude,” he added.
Trump, in turn, took to Truth Social to blast Musk in a series of posts.
Donald J. Trump Truth Social 06.05.25 02:37 PM EST
pic.twitter.com/vlq4FwkkpB
In response, Musk dropped a self-described bomb on X.
“Time to drop the really big bomb,” Musk wrote in a post. “@realDonaldTrump is in the Epstein files. That is the real reason they have not been made public.”
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!
Musk was referring to infamous financier
Jeffrey Epstein
, who died by suicide in prison after his arrest for sex trafficking. There has been much speculation – and conspiracy mongering – around the names of Epstein’s associates complied in what has come to be known as the Epstein Files.
In February, the Trump administration released some information contained in the files at a press event with conservative social media influencers – though later those
same influencers complained
that nothing in the release was new information.
The war of words between the two billionaires has generated commentary – and memes – across social media.
this is like kendrick vs drake but with two drakes
Broooos please noooooo 🫂 We love you both so much
how can we possibly be expected to do our actual work under these conditions
genuinely today is like the series finale of twitter
https://t.co/PRT0BILsRl
Us watching this fight in real time
pic.twitter.com/H4YyWCV3nf
This is beat-for-beat how every alliance works on Bad Girls Club
Shares of Musk’s electric vehicle maker Tesla fell nearly 10% Thursday, their latest notable move since the election.
The shares started dropping right as
Trump launched into his criticism
of his former adviser.
Tesla shares doubled in the weeks after Trump was elected, hitting an all-time high on Dec. 17. They gave back those gains and more during Musk’s time at DOGE.
In April, Musk vowed to focus much more on Tesla and its upcoming launch of driverless taxis in Texas. That pleased investors and the stock rallied until late last week when Musk ramped up his criticism of Trump’s tax bill.
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Trump is ‘in the Epstein files’ Elon Musk claims as fight heats up
Trump is ‘in the Epstein files’ Elon Musk claims as fight heats up
Trump is ‘in the Epstein files’ Elon Musk claims as fight heats up