Musk deletes new Epstein post as battle with Trump continues

Billionaire Elon Musk continued his battle with Donald Trump late Friday with a post on X where he once again invoked the Jeffrey Epstein files -- then deleted it a short time later.

The break-up with the president has been raging since Thursday after Trump took shots at Musk during a press availability with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, with Musk returning fire on his social media account that led to the explosive accusation, "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!"

What has ensued is a schism within the MAGA base which has been calling for a release of government files about Epstein but also does not want to hear that the president might be tied to the accused pedophile.

In an X exchange of Friday, Musk parried complaints from a close ally who is also a supporter of Trump.

In a screenshot that was captured by multiple observers, including Mediaite, businessman James Fishbeck, wrote, "Elon, Keep tweeting about your 'new political party' and Japanese fertility rates all you want. You owe President Trump a full-throated apology, and every hour you delay, it’ll make an eventual apology less sincere. You can substantively disagree with the President on policy, but you should not have baselessly and personally attacked him."

Over three posts, since deleted, Musk responded, "What the apology for exactly?" followed by, "Be precise," which led to his mention Epstein again, where he wrote: "I will apologize profusely as soon as there is a full dump of the Epstein files."