Musk’s Epstein bombshell blindsides Trump’s FBI director, who reveals his strategy

Kash Patel
FBI Director Kash Patel reacted to the feud between President Donald Trump and tech billionaire Elon Musk in real time. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)AP

FBI Director Kash Patel said he is “staying out” of President Donald Trump and tech billionaire Elon Musk’s bitter breakup.

While filming an episode of “The Joe Rogan Experience,” which was released on Friday, the influential podcaster read out Musk’s “big bomb” accusation in real time to Patel.

“​​@realDonaldTrump is in the Epstein files. That is the real reason they have not been made public,” Musk wrote on X on Thursday, without providing evidence to support his accusation.

“Have a nice day, DJT!” he added.

While reading the post, Rogan immediately responded with “Jesus Christ,” before Patel said he was “not participating” in the dispute.

Rogan then went on to ask Patel: “...That’s a crazy thing to say. How does he know? Does he know that Donald Trump is in the Epstein files? Does he have access to the Epstein files?”

“I don’t know how he would, but I’m just staying out of the Trump-Elon thing. That’s way outside my lane. I know my lane, and that ain’t it,” Patel answered.

Rogan interjected, “What the f---- are they doing?”

Trump on Friday reiterated to reporters that he is not thinking about Musk, after the two’s relationship appeared to end in a fallout on social media and in the Oval Office. Trump strongly criticized Musk on Thursday after the billionaire slammed his “big, beautiful bill” as a “disgusting abomination” on the social media platform X two days earlier, and had been taking shots at the legislation ever since then.

In one of his final jabs, Musk — one of Trump’s now former closest allies — referenced Jeffrey Epstein, a disgraced financier and convicted sex offender who committed suicide in prison in 2019. In 2024, a federal court had released 900 pages of documents related to the multimillionaire, which included the names of individuals associated with Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, his former partner.

Attorney General Pam Bondi released a small batch of additional pages in February, but officials have acknowledged that many have already been publicly available online. Many MAGA supporters have demanded more information — as some believe that Epstein was instead murdered in prison in order to hide the identities of other high-ranking officials, whom they believed were involved in his alleged sex trafficking network. They have even slammed Patel, who recently said in a Fox News interview that Epstein did commit suicide.

“Listen, they have a right to their opinion… you know a suicide when you see one, and that’s what that was,” Patel said during the interview.

During the episode, Rogan joked that Musk’s phone should be confiscated, and said publicly posting and arguing on X “all day” could lead to poor mental health, despite the billionaire owning the platform.

“Half of what we have to respond to is the click army on social media,” Patel said, adding that Rogan raised a “great point.”

Stories by Rachel Cohen

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