JD Vance says Musk made a 'huge mistake' by attacking Trump over Epstein list accusation

U.S. Vice President JD Vance called Elon Musk's recent accusations against President Donald Trump a "huge mistake," after the Tesla CEO linked Trump to the Jeffrey Epstein files in a post on X.

In an interview with podcast host Theo Von, Vance expressed concern about the public feud between the two leaders, warning that a "some blood feud” between Trump and Musk could be detrimental to the country and to Musk himself.

The conflict began when Musk, in a post on X on Thursday, said Trump "appears in the Epstein files" and suggested this was the reason those documents have not been made public in their entirety. However, he later deleted the tweets.

In response, Vance defended Trump, stating that Donald Trump "didn't do anything wrong with Jeffrey Epstein." In the same vein he stressed his loyalty to the president, saying, “my loyalty is always going to be with the President and I hope, eventually Elon kind of comes into the fold."

However, he expressed doubt about the possibility of reconciliation given the severity of Musk's allegations.

During the interview, Vance speculated on the reasons behind Musk's reaction, suggesting that the entrepreneur may be frustrated by ongoing threats and attacks against him and his businesses, including reports of firebombs being thrown at Tesla vehicles.

"His businesses are being attacked nonstop. They're literally like firebombing some of his cars," the vice president added.

He also acknowledged Musk's criticism of the budget reconciliation bill, admitting that the legislative process in Washington can be frustrating for a business leader accustomed to more nimble environments.

Vance explained that the bill, while not perfect, aims to avoid a significant tax increase but acknowledged that both its content and the bureaucratic process may have contributed to Musk's frustration.

He said, "The main purpose of the bill is to prevent the biggest tax increase, but I understand — it's a good bill — it's not a perfect bill. The process in D.C., if you're a business leader, you probably get frustrated with that process because it's more, you know, bureaucratic. It's more slow-moving. So I think there's just some frustrations there."

Vance sought to soften the conflict by describing Musk as "emotional" and expressed hope that the entrepreneur would "chill out" to avoid further fallout.

In that regard, he said, "I actually think if Elon chilled out a little bit, everything would be fine," emphasizing that a prolonged confrontation would hurt the country.