Musk deletes post claiming Trump 'in the Epstein files'

Tech billionaire Elon Musk has deleted an explosive allegation linking Donald Trump with disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein that he posted on social media during a vicious public fallout with the US president this week.

Musk -- who just exited his role as a top White House advisor -- alleged on Thursday that the Republican leader is featured in unreleased government files on former associates of Epstein, who died by suicide in 2019 while he faced sex trafficking charges.

The Trump administration has acknowledged it is reviewing tens of thousands of documents, videos and investigative material that his "MAGA" movement says will unmask public figures complicit in Epstein's crimes.

Trump was named in a trove of deposition and statements linked to Epstein that were unsealed by a New York judge in early 2024. The president has not been accused of any wrongdoing in the case.

"Time to drop the really big bomb: (Trump) is in the Epstein files," Musk posted on his social media platform, X as his growing feud with the president boiled over into a spectacularly public row.

"That is the real reason they have not been made public."

Musk did not reveal which files he was talking about and offered no evidence for his claim.

He initially doubled down on the claim, writing in a follow-up message: "Mark this post for the future. The truth will come out."

However, he appeared to have deleted both tweets by Saturday morning.

Supporters on the conspiratorial end of Trump's "Make America Great Again" base allege that Epstein's associates had their roles in his crimes covered up by government officials and others.

They point the finger at Democrats and Hollywood celebrities, although not at Trump himself. No official source has ever confirmed that the president appears in any of the as-yet-unreleased material.

Trump knew and socialised with Epstein but has denied spending time on Little Saint James, the private redoubt in the US Virgin Islands where prosecutors alleged Epstein trafficked underage girls for sex.

"Terrific guy," Trump, who was Epstein's neighbour in both Florida and New York, said in an early 2000s profile of the financier.

"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."

Just last week, Trump gave Musk a glowing send-off as he left his cost-cutting role at the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

But their relationship imploded within days as Musk described as an "abomination" a spending bill that, if passed by Congress, could define Trump's second term in office.

Trump hit back in an Oval Office diatribe, and from there the row detonated, leaving Washington and riveted social media users alike stunned by the blistering break-up between the world's richest person and the world's most powerful.

With real political and economic risks to their row, both then appeared to inch back from the brink on Friday, with Trump telling reporters, "I just wish him well," and Musk responding on X: "Likewise."