JD Vance Tells Theo Von That Musk Made A 'Huge Mistake' Going After Trump

Vice President JD Vance said Elon Musk made a critical error attacking President Donald Trump and his so-called Big Beautiful Bill.

“I think it’s a huge mistake for him to go after the president like that,” Vance told podcaster and comedian Theo Von in an interview released on Friday. “I think that if he and the president are in some blood feud, most importantly it’s going to be bad for the country, but I don’t think it’s going to be good for Elon, either.”

The two were taping an episode of Von’s podcast, This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von, as Trump and Musk publicly traded barbs on Thursday.

As Vance and Von spoke, Musk shared a post to X, formerly Twitter, accusing Trump of holding off on the release of files about late financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein due to Trump being mentioned in them.

“The fucking shit-missile is in the cannon,” Von said, before reading the post aloud to Vance.

Vance acknowledged his loyalties would always be with Trump and defended the president against Musk’s accusations, saying Trump never did “anything wrong” with Epstein. Vance praised Musk’s work with the Department of Government Efficiency and suggested Musk could just be lashing out due to frustration with the political process.

“I hope that eventually Elon kind of comes back into the fold,” Vance said. “Maybe that’s not possible now, because he’s gone so nuclear.”

Vance said it’s unfair for Musk to go after Trump for the Big Beautiful Bill — arguing it’s good but not perfect — and that Congress made the bill, not Trump.

“I just think it’s a huge mistake for the world’s wealthiest man, I think one of the most transformational entrepreneurs ever, to be at this war with the world’s most powerful man, who I think is doing more to save the country than anybody— and I’m 40 years old — anybody in my lifetime,” Vance added.

Vance also addressed a post in which Musk suggested Trump should be impeached and replaced with Vance, calling it “totally insane.”

Vance wasn’t the only Trump administration official to learn of Musk’s feud with the president while taping a podcast. FBI Director Kash Patel was taping a podcast with Joe Rogan when Musk sent the Epstein post, prompting the podcast host to exclaim, “Jesus Christ, that’s a crazy thing to say.”

“I’m just staying out of the Trump-Elon thing, that’s way outside my lane,” Patel said. “I know my lane, and that ain’t it.”