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FBI Director Kash Patel first learned the world’s richest man had just accused his boss of being in the so-called “Epstein Files” while taping an episode of Joe Rogan’s podcast on Thursday.
Patel, who has come under fire from MAGA supporters in recent weeks for backing away from conspiracy theories about disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein now that he leads the FBI, appeared taken aback by Elon Musk’s wild tweets about Donald Trump’s lengthy past relationship with Epstein.
“That’s way outside my lane,” Patel demurred while Rogan wondered “what the f**k” was going on between the president and his former “first buddy.”
With the bromance between the president and Musk – who funded Trump’s campaign to the tune of a quarter-billion dollars and spearheaded DOGE’s government-dismantling mission – blowing up in spectacular fashion on Thursday afternoon, Rogan interrupted his interview with Patel to break the news to the FBI chief.
Roughly an hour into The Joe Rogan Experience taping on Thursday, Musk took issue with the president saying he was “disappointed” about the Tesla CEO’s ongoing criticisms about the “Big, Beautiful Bill” that Republicans are trying to pass. Following Musk’s exit from the administration last week as a “special government employee,” the tech mogul had grown increasingly outspoken against the president’s signature legislation, claiming it would “bankrupt” the country.
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“Time to drop the really big bomb,” Musk tweeted on Thursday afternoon. “@realDonaldTrump is in the Epstein files. That is the real reason they have not been made public. Have a nice day, DJT!”
He followed up that tweet by adding: “Mark this post for the future. The truth will come out.”
Moments before Musk dropped his bombshell post, Patel had spent a significant portion of his Rogan interview attempting to convince the conspiracy-peddling podcast host that Epstein did indeed commit suicide. Patel and his deputy director Dan Bongino – both of whom had previously supported the theory that Epstein was murdered in jail – have taken heavy criticism from right-wing influencers for now insisting that all evidence suggests Epstein killed himself.
While Rogan began wondering if Patel and the FBI had footage of Epstein’s island residence, the show’s producer jumped in to let them both know that Musk had just flung out his allegation about Trump.
“Jesus Christ,” Rogan gasped in shock.
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“I’m not participating in any of that conversation between Elon and Trump,” Patel muttered.
Reading from the tweets, Rogan then said “someone should take his phone away” and that it was “crazy” for Musk to accuse the president of being on the supposed client list of the deceased sex offender.
“How does he know? Does he know that Donald Trump’s in the Epstein files? Does he have access to the Epstein files?” Rogan then asked Patel directly.
“I don’t know how he would, but I’m just staying out of the Trump-Elon thing,” the FBI director shot back. “That’s way outside my lane.”
As a shocked Rogan wondered “what the f**k are they doing,” Patel reiterated that he knows his “lane and this ain’t it.” Rogan, meanwhile, expressed concern over the amount of time that Musk spends posting to the social media platform he owns.
“I understand he owns Twitter, I think it’s bad for your mental health,” the podcaster concluded. “I think posting things publicly all day and arguing with people all day is bad for you.”
Beginning in the 1980s, Epstein and Trump began hanging out in the same social circles and soon became friends, partying and dining together at their palatial estates. They posed together for photographs and were “each other’s wingmen” at one point in time. “He’s a lot of fun to be with,” Trump said about Epstein in a 2002 interview. “It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side.”
The pair would have a falling out in 2004. According to one Trump aide, Trump banned Epstein from Mar-a-Lago after he asked a young female worker for a massage. Following Epstein’s 2019 arrest on sex trafficking charges, Trump said he was “not a fan of his” while one of the president’s lawyers insisted they had “no relationship.”
