Musk vs Trump: Tesla CEO deletes several tweets, including one on 'Epstein files'; is it a bid to mend broken relationship?

Is Elon Musk taking a step closer to ending his feud with Donald Trump? The Tesla CEO's latest move certainly seems to hint in that direction. James Fishback, principal architect of the "DOGE Checks" initiative, who had previously criticized Musk for his tweets targeting Trump, praised the SpaceX boss after he deleted all posts directed at the US president. Fishback highlighted Musk’s deleted tweets and urged him to take the next step by offering an apology to Trump.

"Elon has deleted his slanderous tweets about the President of the United States. Good first step. Next up: full-throated apology to Trump and his family," he said.The dispute began when Fishback responded to Musk’s post about potentially forming a new political party, dubbed the "American Party." "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," Fishback said. In response, the recently-departed DOGE head posted a series of tweets, but shortly after, many of them were deleted. Some replies to those tweets are still visible, but the original posts have been removed.

Notably, all of Musk's earlier tweets criticizing Trump, including those referencing the Epstein files, have also been deleted. This suggests that he may be exploring ways to mend their fractured relationship. One of the deleted tweets read: “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! Mark this post for the future.

The truth will come out.”

The political rift between the two became public earlier this week when Musk lashed out at one of Trump’s signature legislative efforts — which the Republican leader often referred to as his “big, beautiful bill” — calling it a “disgusting abomination.” The criticism reportedly stunned Republicans and prompted a rare serious response from Trump. “Elon and I had a great relationship. I don’t know if we will anymore,” he said from the Oval Office.Trump didn’t stop there. Taking direct aim at Musk’s companies, the US president added: “The easiest way to save money in our budget — billions and billions of dollars — is to terminate Elon’s governmental subsidies and contracts.” Musk, in turn, accused Trump of "ingratitude" and escalated the standoff by reposting unverified claims suggesting the latter's name appeared in government documents tied to Jeffrey Epstein.