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The public spat between the billionaire Elon Musk and President Trump has captivated MAGA-friendly podcasters, including Joe Rogan and Theo Von.
June 8, 2025Updated 5:50 a.m. ET
About 90 minutes into Joe Rogan’s interview on Thursday with Kash Patel, the F.B.I. director, a producer interrupted the conversation with some news.
President Trump and Elon Musk “seem to be in a little bit of a spat,” the producer said, displaying on a screen a new inflammatory post from Mr. Musk, the billionaire and owner of X, whose relationship with the president had, until recently, been widely described as a “bromance.”
In the post, Mr. Musk suggested, without evidence, that Mr. Trump was withholding “the Epstein files” because the president had a personal connection to Jeffrey Epstein’s sex-trafficking case. By Saturday morning, Mr. Musk appeared to have deleted the post.
By this point in Mr. Patel’s interview on “The Joe Rogan Experience,” the F.B.I. director had already spent about 20 minutes discussing Mr. Epstein, promising to release video surveillance from the disgraced financier’s jail cell. Mr. Epstein hanged himself there while awaiting trial.
Mr. Patel swiftly distanced himself from the skirmish: “I’m not participating in any of that conversation between Elon and Trump,” he said. “I know my lane and that ain’t it.”
Mr. Rogan seemed to chose a side quickly. He called Mr. Musk’s post “crazy” and suggested the billionaire’s phone be taken away.
