Everyone Is Finally Talking About The Epstein Files Again

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Tesla CEO Elon Musk certainly has a knack for picking winners. His influence on the vehicle electrification movement is undeniable. Politics, too. Musk successfully vaulted US President Donald Trump into office for a second term in 2024, a maneuver that abruptly reversed Biden-era renewable energy programs and sent EV sales spiraling into the cellar. Perhaps that was Musk’s intended result, perhaps not. Regardless, Trump’s track record has been anything but rosy since taking office, and now the Epstein files have come roaring back with a vengeance.

Be Careful What You Wish For: The Return Of The Epstein Files

Looming darkly over both Musk and Trump is the deceased, notorious sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein. Musk’s personal attachment to Epstein is evidently slim, and at one point last year Musk called for the full release of the Epstein files amassed by the US Department of Justice.

Trump, in contrast, has long been rumored to have enjoyed a years-long, personal relationship with Epstein. Allegations of trafficking and abuse reached fever pitch last year, when Congress passed the Epstein Files Transparency Act, requiring DOJ to release its files. Although Trump himself signed the the bill into law, DOJ has continued to keep the full investigation to itself.

Despite those efforts, the cat is out of the bag, and now, among other accomplishments, Elon Musk can take credit for what follows.

“A growing body of evidence demonstrates that Donald Trump was an active participant in Jeffrey Epstein’s sexual abuse of young women during the mid-to-late 1990s,” the House Committee on the Judiciary summarized in a detailed staff report posted on October 26, complete with names and photographs. The House Committee also emphasized that both DOJ and the FBI are “doing everything they can to keep the American people in the dark about it.”

“Above all, the actual evidence we have seen…indicates that Trump abused, assaulted, and even raped numerous women alongside, and in coordination with, the most infamous sex trafficker in history,” the summary continues (read the entire report here).

“…Congress must continue to use its legislative and oversight powers to pursue justice for survivors and bring an end to the Trump Administration’s shameful, bureaucratic, and political cover-up,” the report concludes.

Of course, there is a slim to no chance that Congress will take action on the Epstein files while the Republican party controls the levers of power. That’s up to the electorate to decide in the mid-term elections, which are just around the corner on November 3…and that’s where Musk’s millions come in.

Giving Credit Where Credit Is Due

If you are wondering why some clean tech reporters (raises hand) spend spill so much ink on Elon Musk’s political activities, there is a simple answer to that. Energy policy is politics. If you have a more nuanced answer, drop a note in the discussion thread.

Additionally, the policy-politics nexus is all the more on display with Musk, considering his position as an icon of the global vehicle electrification movement and a billionaire many times over. Musk is spending millions of his own money on the 2026 mid-term election cycle with the aim of ensuring that US President Donald Trump continues to enjoy a Republican majority in Congress during his last two years in office.

The 2026 election cycle is also not Musk’s first turn at the rodeo. He is widely credited with pouring millions of his own money into Trump’s 2024 re-election campaign, providing a much-needed boost to vault the Republican ticket over the top.

To be fair, Musk’s millions were not the only factor behind the victorious 2024 outcome. The well-known intellectual, author, and activist Cornel West also made a run at the Oval Office as an Independent candidate under the third-party banner of People Over Party, a move that reportedly peeled progressive voters away from the Democratic Party.

Democratic advocates in multiple states successfully sued to keep West off the ballot (here’s one example). On or off the ballot, though, West’s high profile candidacy was a significant distraction as the Democratic ticket struggled to find a late-stage replacement for the stumbling incumbent, President Joe Biden. Vice President Kamala Harris ultimately took up the task, and the rest is history.

Oh wait, maybe Musk’s millions were behind the West candidacy after all. If so, the muckracking news organization Sludge has the receipts. “The nonprofit that helped get Cornel West on presidential ballots in 2024 received all of its funding that year through a conservative political network that has been bankrolled by Elon Musk, tax records reviewed by Sludge show,” Sludge summarized on October 26.

“People Over Party helped pay for petition drives to get the left-wing West onto state ballots in 2024 as Democrats warned he could play spoiler by drawing votes from Kamala Harris and helping Trump,” Sludge elaborated, further noting that People Over Party raised $7.7 million in 2024, all of it from the nonprofit Interstate Priorities, a group that received all $10.1 million of its 2024 revenue from the Musk-funded group Building America’s Future.

Meanwhile, Over In Ukraine…

The Epstein files aside, Musk has another, more immediate reason for wishing upon a continuation of the Republican majority in Congress. If you’re guessing that involves his SpaceX venture, run right out and buy yourself a cigar. Last week, reports surfaced that Musk himself approved a dial-down in key Starlink and Starshield satellite services in Ukraine, leaving that country exposed to lethal attacks by Russia. Musk initially denied those reports and threw the blame directly on Trump, while also accusing Ukraine of violating its terms of service.

Regardless of the deflection, the real question is whether or not other democratic nations that do business with SpaceX can trust the company to uphold its contracts, and trust the US government to support longstanding alliances in Europe and elsewhere around the world. Poland, which has been footing the bill for Starlink service in Ukraine, has already warned Musk that everyone in Europe is aware of his meddling on behalf of Russian interests.

Critics have also raised questions about Musk’s numerous entanglements with the US government, including contracts with the Defense Department as well as NASA. No wonder Musk is eager to see Trump continue to exercise iron-fisted control over Congress, Epstein files and all.

PSA: If you need to check your registration status, polling place, or any other aspect of the 2026 elections, connect with your local elections office or use a legitimate portal like vote.gov or vote411.org, a project of the League of Women Voters, to find your local information. Whatever you do, avoid “VoteSafe.org,” a partisan voter data collection hub funded by Musk’s America PAC.

Image: The Epstein files have surged back into the headlines, now that the House Committee on the Judiciary has released a staff report detailing US President Donald Trump’s relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, complete with names and photographs (screenshot courtesy of House Judiciary Committee).