Elon Musk set X alight last night when he alleged that US president Donald Trump is named in the Jeffrey Epstein files. ‘Time to drop the really big bomb,’ the tech billionaire wrote. ‘@realDonaldTrump is in the Epstein files. That is the real reason they have not been made public.’ Trump has not yet publicly commented on Musk’s allegation, nor has the White House.
The Epstein files refer to classified documents obtained by the FBI as part of their investigations into convicted sex trafficker Epstein. Trump vowed to have the documents declassified and shared publicly on the presidency campaign trail, but only one lot of documents have been released so far this year.
In May, Attorney General Pam Bondi released what she called the ‘first phase’ of files, noting that these specific documents were ‘previously leaked but never released in a formal capacity by the U.S. Government’. The files contains flight logs and Epstein’s contact book, with some names of his alleged associates.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt later said she doesn’t have a ‘specific timeline’ on when the rest of the documents will be released. Musks’s accusation that Trump is in the files has therefore added to speculation about why the president has not yet fulfilled his promise to publish all the files.
Were Jeffrey Epstein and Donald Trump friends?
Trump’s messy friendship with Epstein through the decades is well-documented. Videos from the 90s show them partying together in Palm Beach, at Trump’s Mar-A- Lago club and they reportedly dined in Epstein’s Manhattan mansion often, according to reports. ‘I’ve known Jeff for 15 years,’ Trump told New York magazine in 2002. ‘Terrific guy. He’s a lot of fun to be with. It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side.’
Their friendship became competitive in 2004, buying up rival properties, with Trump understood to have distanced himself from the sex offender after his 2005 arrest. Epstein was accused of sexually abusing 36 girls at the time and plead guilty to child prostitution and soliciting a prostitute in 2008, serving 13 months in jail as part of his plea deal. He was arrested for sex trafficking minors in 2019, Trump telling reporters at the time ‘“I was not a fan. I had a falling out with him a long time ago.’
Trumps name came up in court during the trial of Ghislaine Maxwell, who was accused of conspiring with Epstein to lure young girls into sexual relationships with him over the course of 10 years and was convicted of sex trafficking in 2022 – sentenced to 20 years in prison. One witness testified during Maxwell’s trial that Epstein asked her to meet Trump at his Mar-a-Lago resort when she was 14. She did not allege improper behaviour.
In October last year, former model Stacey Williams alleged that she was introduced to Trump through Epstein in 1993 and accused Trump of sexual assault. Trump denied the claims. Williams alleged that the president groped her after Epstein suggested they visit Trump at Trump Tower, when she was 23. 'It became very clear that [Epstein] and Donald were really, really good friends and spent a lot of time together,' she said in a video published by The Guardian. In a statement defending Trump, Leavitt said the sexual assault claims were 'unequivocally false.'
Trump's name also appeared on flight logs for Epstein’s private plane seven times, despite Trump claiming he never flew on it or visited Epstein’s private island – where many of his crimes took place. Epstein himself described Trump as his ‘closest friend for 10 years’, in tapes released by biographer Michael Wolff – who has written several books about Trump – but Leavitt has since accused Wolff of ‘outlandish false smears’.
Now then, Musk’s accusation is the latest in a long line of messy stories that link Trump to Epstein. That said, many are taking glee in watching Trump’s friendship with Musk similarly go to tatters. The memes are aplenty, that’s for sure.