A war of words has erupted between Elon Musk and Donald Trump, with the Tesla billionaire calling for the president’s impeachment over allegations that Trump’s name appears in secret government files related to the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein.

Musk responded “yes” to a user on X who wrote: “Trump should be impeached and JD Vance should replace him.” Trump, in turn, threatened to cancel all of Musk’s government contracts, saying it would save the government “billions and billions of dollars.”

“I’m very disappointed because Elon knew the inner workings of this bill…he only developed a problem when we knew we were going to cut the electric vehicle mandate,” Trump said. Musk shot back, saying Trump only won the election because of his support.

The feud escalated further when Steve Bannon, Trump’s former adviser, urged the president to initiate a formal investigation into Musk’s immigration status and have him “deported from the country immediately.” Musk has also been accused of having a “Trump derangement syndrome” by the president.

Tesla shares plummeted as the rift intensified, with investors fearing that Trump might hinder the rollout of self-driving cars in the US, hitting the company’s growth potential. Musk’s net worth plunged by $34 billion as Tesla shares nosedived by 14%.

Musk has also pledged to decommission SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft, which is used by Nasa to deliver and collect astronauts from the International Space Station. “In light of the President’s statement about cancellation of my government contracts, @SpaceX will begin decommissioning its Dragon spacecraft immediately,” Musk wrote on X.

The public spat has sparked a wider debate, with some calling for the release of the Epstein files. House Democrats have demanded the release of the files, with Representative Dan Goldman saying, “I called for the full release of the Epstein Files a month ago because of my suspicion that Attorney General Pam Bondi was concealing the files to protect Donald Trump. Now my suspicion has been confirmed.”

The feud shows no signs of abating, with both sides dug in and unwilling to back down. As the situation continues to unfold, one thing is clear: the war of words between Elon Musk and Donald Trump is far from over.