Elon Musk names top Trump ally in the Epstein files as MAGA rift deepens
Elon Musk is sure to deepen his feud with Donald Trump, claiming that the president’s former advisor Steve Bannon is implicated in the Epstein files.
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Elon Musk has made a startling new claim that former President Trump adviser Steve Bannon is implicated in the Jeffrey Epstein files, which Mr Trump and US Attorney-General Pam Bondi have refused to release.
The world’s richest man, who has had a very public falling out with Mr Trump over the ‘Big, Beautiful Bill,’ posted on X, “Bannon is in the Epstein files,” in response to another tweet from Roger Stone, also a former Trump adviser, asking why Steve Bannon met with the disgraced financier after his convictions.
The Tesla CEO was responding to a social media post from another former Trump advisor, Roger Stone.
“Why would Bannon meet with Jeffrey Epstein both at his New York home and in Paris after Epstein was convicted on sex crimes in Florida?” Stone wondered on X. “Why would he coach Epstein for his 60 minutes appearance?”
Bannon told the New York Times that the meeting was part of a documentary meant to expose Epstein.
Musk’s claim comes after he claimed on X that President Trump himself is mentioned in the Epstein files.
Musk later deleted the post, saying he went too far with the accusation. But he has circled back with an inference with a new tweet: “How can people be expected to have faith in Trump if he won’t release the Epstein files?”
Mr Trump addressed the Epstein files on Tuesday during a Cabinet meeting,dismissing the subject.
“Are you still talking about Epstein? This guy has been talked about for years. Are people still talking about this creep? I can’t believe you’re asking a question about Epstein,” the president said.
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COULD MUSK’S AMERICA PARTY ACTUALLY SUCCEED?
Elon Musk has a lot of hurdles to overcome if he wants to launch his own political party in the United States but cannot be ruled out, experts say.
The Tesla and Space X mogul Musk announced formal plans to start the America Party after clashing with President Donald Trump and Republicans over the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
The billionaire teased that his new party will home in on a select few ultra-competitive races.
Experts agree America’s electoral system will make the proposed party difficult to succeed.
United States Studies Centre associate professor David Smith said Musk’s party is unlikely to gain any traction in the two-party-dominated landscape of US politics.
“Look, it’s not viable at all,” Mr Smith said.
“There are a lot of reasons for it, the biggest background reason for this is that the American electoral system makes it very, very difficult for third parties.
“It’s a winner-take-all, single-member district system all the way down – what that means is every electoral race in the United States, you’ve just got one winner.
“This kind of system … makes it very, very difficult for anyone to break in, regardless of how famous they are, how much money they have, or how much broad appeal they would have.”
However Mr Smith said the biggest, yet still limited, effect of the America Party will be diverting votes from the Republicans, possibly helping the Democrats in the upcoming midterm elections.
“He could get a few protest votes, which would probably spoil things for the Republican Party,” Mr Smith said.
“But when people are aware that this third party could be a spoiler, they’re less likely to vote for them … targeting really close congressional races will actually get him fewer votes than if he was targeting races that people didn’t care about as much.
“Now, I think that the spoiler effect would be small because most Republicans would reason that they should vote Republican rather than voting for Musk.”
However, Mr Musk could spend billions of dollars on targeted ad campaigns against the Republicans, potentially impacting their midterm election results.
“At the same time, Musk would probably be prepared to spend a lot of money on attack ads and if those attack ads were predominantly directed at the Republican Party, that could be damaging because there’s a good chance that by next year, quite a lot of Trump supporters will be reluctant to vote in the midterm elections at all,” Mr Smith said.
“A lot of Trump supporters, they come out to vote for Trump, they don’t come out to vote for Republicans in midterm elections and if there’s a wave of Musk attack ads against the Republican Party … that could be a real problem for the Republicans.
“I think given how tight some of the margins are in congressional races, both parties get really worried about the effects of spoiler candidates.”
Collin Anderson, clinical assistant professor of political science at the University at Buffalo, said Musk’s ambition should not be downplayed.
“People should take it seriously until proven otherwise,” Mr Anderson told Axios.
“There’s a lot of hurdles in his way, especially pretty significant institutional barriers.
“But it’s not impossible.”
TRUMP LAMBASTS MUSK IN LENGTHY POST
Donald Trump labelled Elon Musk a “TRAIN WRECK” in a scathing post on Truth Social on Tuesday AEST.
“I am saddened to watch Elon Musk go completely “off the rails,” essentially becoming a TRAIN WRECK over the past five weeks. He even wants to start a Third Political Party, despite the fact that they have never succeeded in the United States – The System seems not designed for them. The one thing Third Parties are good for is the creation of Complete and Total DISRUPTION & CHAOS, and we have enough of that with the Radical Left Democrats, who have lost their confidence and their minds! Republicans, on the other hand, are a smooth running “machine,” that just passed the biggest Bill of its kind in the History of our Country. It is a Great Bill but, unfortunately for Elon, it eliminates the ridiculous Electric Vehicle (EV) Mandate, which would have forced everyone to buy an Electric Car in a short period of time. I have been strongly opposed to that from the very beginning. People are now allowed to buy whatever they want – Gasoline Powered, Hybrids (which are doing very well), or New Technologies as they come about – No more EV Mandate. I have campaigned on this for two years and, quite honestly, when Elon gave me his total and unquestioned Endorsement, I asked him whether or not he knew that I was going to terminate the EV Mandate – It was in every speech I made, and in every conversation I had. He said he had no problems with that – I was very surprised! Additionally, Elon asked that one of his close friends run NASA and, while I thought his friend was very good, I was surprised to learn that he was a blue blooded Democrat, who had never contributed to a Republican before. Elon probably was, also. I also thought it inappropriate that a very close friend of Elon, who was in the Space Business, run NASA, when NASA is such a big part of Elon’s corporate life. My Number One charge is to protect the American Public!”
WHITE HOUSE SCOFFS AT MUSK’S POLITICAL AMBITIONS
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent threw shade at tech mogul Musk’s bid to launch a new political party — sniping that the billionaire simply isn’t popular enough to pull it off.
Mr Bessent told CNN’s “State of the Union,” “Look, the principles of DOGE were very popular. I think if you looked at the polling, Elon was not.”
Musk had been the driving force behind the Trump administration’s cost-cutting new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) before wrapping up his time as a special government employee in May — and famously falling out with the president.
Musk has lamented that DOGE became a “whipping boy for everything.”
More recently, he fussed that the debt impact of Mr Trump’s megabill makes a “mockery of the work” done by his DOGE team to slash the deficit.
Mr Bessent and Mr Musk have crossed swords in the past.
After Mr Trump’s 2024 presidential victory, Musk publicly backed then-Cantor Fitzgerald CEO Howard Lutnick to helm the Treasury Department over Bessent.
Mr Trump ultimately went with Mr Bessent and made Mr Lutnick the secretary of the Department of Commerce.
In April, Musk and Bessent got into a heated shouting match after meeting with Mr Trump. MAGA podcaster Steve Bannon alleges Musk then shoved Mr Bessent — something which the Treasury secretary hasn’t publicly confirmed.
Despite their acrimonious relationship, Mr Bessent had previously downplayed friction with Musk, telling The Post’s “Pod Force One” podcast that he’s more “ninja”-like while Musk “fancies himself more of a Viking.”
“I believe that the boards of directors at his various companies wanted him to come back and run those companies, which he is better at than anyone,” Mr Bessent said on CNN.
It comes as Musk, the world’s richest man, announced he’s launching a new political party – the latest salvo fired in his ongoing feud with President Trump.
“By a factor of 2 to 1, you want a new political party and you shall have it!” Musk said on his X social media platform, referring to an online poll he created a day earlier.
“When it comes to bankrupting our country with waste & graft, we live in a one-party system, not a democracy. Today, the America Party is formed to give you back your freedom.”
Musk did not offers details on how he’d form the new America Party, but it would be a complex process, with the rules to get on ballots varying in each state. The effort could also face legal challenges.
Peeved by Republicans’ passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, Musk declared on X Friday that “Independence Day is the perfect time to ask if you want independence from the two-party (some would say uniparty) system!”
Last month, Musk dramatically turned against Trump and his second-term agenda legislation, calling it “pork-filled” and a “disgusting abomination.”
Publicly, the Tesla and SpaceX owner has cited concerns about the bill’s impact on the deficit, to which the legislation is projected to add about US$3.9 trillion over the next decade.
Musk spent hundreds of millions of dollars helping Trump get re-elected, and he served as the driving force behind the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, cost-cutting initiative, causing fierce personal and professional backlash.
Trump earlier this week threatened to cut off billions of dollars in subsidies that Musk’s companies receive from the federal government.
Musk said previously he’d start the new political party and spend money to unseat politicians who supported the bill.
Republicans have expressed concern that Musk’s on-again, off-again feud with Trump could hurt their chances to protect their majority in the 2026 midterm congressional elections.
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