The Epstein files offer a disturbing glimpse into how members of the American elite fraternized with, and in some cases became entangled with, a convicted sex offender who trafficked young girls. At the same time, the documents have become a volatile political liability for some of the world’s most powerful people.
The Justice Department document dumps have reignited long-simmering feuds among wealthy power players who despise one another. There’s Elon Musk and his longstanding, mutual animus with Reid Hoffman. In the conservative media world, Ben Shapiro and Steve Bannon, longtime rivals, are now channeling their hostility through the latest Epstein-related disclosures.
We rounded up some of the most prominent beefs reanimated by the Epstein files. In some cases, both figures are mentioned directly in Epstein’s emails; in others, only one appears. In every instance, though, the disclosures mainly confirm whatever people already believed, a noxious exercise in confirmation bias. The files reveal billionaires sifting through the emails alongside everyone else, hunting for vindication, absolution, or ammunition in a bleak economy of exoneration, exculpation, and exposure.
Elon Musk vs. Reid Hoffman
Elon Musk, who is mentioned in the files but is now presenting himself as an anti-Epstein figure, has used the revelations to attack Reid Hoffman. Musk has long disliked the LinkedIn founder and frequent Democratic donor, previously accusing him of funding anti-Tesla protests and amplifying threats against the president. Now, both billionaires are pointing fingers at each other, citing their respective appearances in the Epstein files.
Musk insists he never visited Epstein’s island. Hoffman says he has publicly outlined the instances he recalls meeting the financier. Neither man has been charged with any crime, yet they continue to trade accusations centered on Epstein’s island and their proximity to it.
“This is how I knew so long ago that Reid Hoffman went to Epstein’s island. Epstein used Reid being there to try to get me to go, not realizing that it would have the opposite effect,” Musk wrote in an X post, linking to an email from Epstein stating Hoffman was on the island.
Hoffman shot back, telling Musk to “give us a break,” and accusing him of pretending to care about victims while making “false accusations to cover your ass.” If Musk were serious, Hoffman argued, he would use his “$220m of influence with President Trump to get justice for the victims.”
“You lied about this to everyone for over a decade,” Hoffman continued, “and now your excuse (it’s disgusting, by the way) is that you could get young girls without Epstein?”
Bill Gates vs. Melinda French Gates
Melinda French Gates has suggested that both Bill Gates’s infidelity and his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein contributed to the couple’s divorce, a subject she later addressed in her memoir, The Next Day. Both remain among the world’s wealthiest and most powerful figures. Bill Gates is worth as much as $100 billion, according to Forbes, while Melinda French Gates is worth roughly $30 billion.
The latest Epstein file disclosures have reopened old wounds, including a claim contained in one of the financier’s emails that he helped the Microsoft cofounder arrange extramarital affairs and seek treatment for a sexually transmitted infection. Gates has denied those allegations. French Gates, however, said the following in a recent interview with NPR: “Whatever questions remain there of what—I can’t even begin to know all of it—those questions are for those people and for even my ex-husband. They need to answer to those things, not me.’”
Palmer Luckey vs. Jason Calacanis
There are a number of reasons Palmer Luckey, the founder of Anduril, and angel investor Jason Calacanis appear to dislike each other, at least as far as is publicly known. Calacanis has allegedly repeatedly taken shots at Luckey, and there has long been speculation that he bristled at Luckey’s early support for Donald Trump.
The Epstein files have now reignited tensions between the two. Calacanis recently released a statement attempting to contextualize his relationship with Epstein and distance himself from the sex offender, claiming he believed Epstein was a spy. Luckey responded with a lengthy post on X, writing: “Notice how Fat Jason’s statement very carefully avoids the topic people are actually talking about, his ongoing relationship with and aid to a convicted child rapist and sex trafficker well into the 2010s.”
Marc Andreeseen vs. Democrats
Marc Andreessen has distanced himself from the Democratic Party, in part because, he says, he viewed the Biden administration’s approach to the tech industry as overly heavy-handed. He had been criticizing liberal institutions even before that shift, telling The New York Times last year that, “the young children of the privileged going to the top universities between 2008 to 2012, they basically radicalized hard at the universities.” He has also jokingly suggested that billionaires who support liberal causes made frequent trips to Epstein’s island.
Paul Graham vs. Trump
On the other side of the billionaire aisle, Paul Graham, who has recently criticized ICE’s treatment of protesters and observers, has repeatedly suggested that Trump is attempting to distract the public from the Epstein files by stoking other forms of political chaos. Graham donated extensively to Biden and Harris, and wrote ahead of the 2024 election that Trump “seems completely without shame” and “ran the White House like a mob boss.”
Steve Bannon vs. Ben Shapiro
Steve Bannon, a leading figure in the Make America Great Again nationalist wing of the conservative movement, and Ben Shapiro, a right-wing YouTube influencer and cofounder of The Daily Wire, both previously worked at Breitbart (though not harmoniously). The two have long despised one another, in part because of sharp disagreements over Israel, but also because of their vastly different approaches to Trump, the alt-right, and conservative ideology more broadly.
Bannon called Shapiro a “cancer” at Turning Point USA’s AmericaFest last year, and Shapiro has repeatedly criticized Bannon’s faction of the party. With the release of additional Epstein files, Shapiro has seized on the disclosures to attack Bannon for allegedly helping Epstein with “PR rehab,” even devoting an entire episode of his show to the subject, titled “The Bannon-Epstein Connection REVEALED.”