Some two months ago, Elon Musk appeared on Tucker Carlson’s podcast and began blabbing about the Epstein client list—the notorious docket of people who have allegedly visited the dead pedophile’s island. At the time, Donald Trump had vowed to make the list public, should he be elected again, and Musk, who was campaigning for Trump at the time, claimed that certain people were “terrified” of that happening. Most notably, the Tesla CEO pointed the finger at LinkedIn co-founder and tech billionaire Reid Hoffman. “He’s terrified of a Trump victory,” Musk said of Hoffman, who had a relationship with Epstein, and who was very publicly supporting Kamala Harris at the time.

Now, in an interview with a British newspaper, Hoffman claims he’s had to hire security to deal with threats from rightwingers ever since Musk’s comments. “It’s hard when someone is generating completely slanderous lies that end up resulting in crazy MAGA people sending you threats of violence,” Hoffman said, while speaking with The Sunday Times. “Elon’s defamation makes me angry and sad. Angry because it is an ugly assault. Sad because it comes from someone whose entrepreneurial achievements I continue to admire,” Hoffman added, before admitting: “I’ve hired security staff as a result.”

The rhetorical tussle between Musk and Hoffman would appear to be an example of the political power wrangling currently taking place. As Trump heads back to the White House, to the victor goes the spoils and Musk, who notably threw his hat in with Trump, can now throw his weight around against his enemies, while Hoffman has to hire security guards. It’s also yet another example of the politicization of the Epstein saga—a scandal that, ironically, was notably bipartisan in terms of the wealthy and well-connected people associated with it.

Musk’s conversation with Carlson, in which he mentioned Hoffman in connection with Epstein, went like this:

Elon: If Trump wins, that Epstein client list is going to become public, and some of those billionaires behind Kamala are terrified of that outcome.

Tucker: Do you think Reid Hoffman is uncomfortable?

Elon: Yes, and Gates.

Tucker: I only ask that because you can sort of look at them, and you’re like, that is a nervous person, and I mean, I assume you know them.

Elon: Yeah, Reid Hoffman was my director of business development at PayPal 24 years ago.

Tucker: Does he seem nervous to you?

Elon: Yeah, he’s terrified of a Trump victory.

Tucker: Because of the disclosures that would follow?

Elon: I think he is certainly ideologically not aligned with Trump anyway, but I think he is concerned about the Epstein situation.

Hoffman’s relationship with Epstein has already been extensively reported on. The Wall Street Journal previously reported that Hoffman had visited Epstein’s island in 2014. He was also allegedly responsible for introducing Epstein to a number of influential tech industry figures, including Peter Thiel (according to Thiel himself).

If Musk is looking for Epstein-connected targets to badmouth, he need look no further than his new boss, the president-elect of the United States. Trump has a well-documented history of association with the dead pedophile. The two were neighbors in Florida, reportedly partied together, and Trump once said, of Epstein: “I’ve known Jeff for 15 years. Terrific guy…He’s a lot of fun to be with. It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side.” Other reports about Trump’s association with Epstein came out in the days before the election. On Oct. 31st, journalist Michael Wolff released what he said was a taped interview with Epstein, in which the dead financier claimed that he had been Trump’s “best friend” for ten years. There is no public evidence that Trump ever visited Epstein’s island.

Epstein, who died in a prison cell in 2019, had ties to a vast number of wealthy and influential people. As Musk noted, Microsoft’s Bill Gates is known to have associated with Epstein, even making several trips to the pedophile’s island. A number of other powerful tech executives have been subpoenaed in connection to ongoing Epstein-related litigation, including the two co-founders of Google, Sergei Brin and Larry Page.