Marco Rubio was irritated. Here, he is in the White House cabinet room, where the Secretary of State sits next to the president, listening to a series of attacks by the richest people in the world.
Elon Musk sat on the diagonal diagonal, on the oval mahogany table, giving Mr. Rubio it, accusing him of failing to cut employees.
Mr. Musk told Mr. Rubio that you had fired “no one” and then added contemptuously that perhaps the person he was fired was a staff member of his government’s Ministry of Efficiency.
Mr. Rubio privately angered Mr. Musk for weeks as his team of governors effectively shut down the entire agency, which was said to be under Mr. Rubio’s control: the United States International Development Agency. But, in the extraordinary cabinet meeting before the President and at the other 20 meetings (no details have been reported yet), Mr. Rubio made his mistake.
Mr. Rubio said Mr. Musk was not honest. Are more than 1,500 State Council officials retired early in the acquisition? Don't they count as layoffs? He asked sarcastically whether Mr. Musk wanted him to rehire all of these people so he could fire them again. He then formulated a detailed plan for reorganizing the State Council.
Mr. Musk was not impressed. He told Mr Rubio that he was “good on TV” and the clear subtext was that he wasn’t good with other things. In all of this, the president sat in a chair, his weapon folded up as if he was watching a tennis game.
After a period of uncomfortable debate, Mr. Trump finally intervened in Mr. Rubio's “excellent work.” The president said Mr. Rubio had a lot to deal with. He is busy, he has been traveling and on TV, and he has an agency to run. Therefore, everyone just needs to work together.
The meeting is a potential turning point after the first week of Trump's second term. It raised the first important sign that Mr. Trump is willing to impose certain restrictions on Mr. Musk, whose efforts have become the subject of several lawsuits and have raised concerns among Republican lawmakers, who complained directly to the president.
Cabinet officials are almost like the concept of what Mr. Musk intends to do (reducing government waste, fraud and abuse), but are frustrated by the method of harassing the government and the lack of consistent coordination.
Thursday's meeting was scheduled to be held suddenly on Wednesday night, suggesting Mr. Trump is noting the growing complaints. He tried to provide both sides by praising Mr. Musk and his cabinet secretary. (At least one of the tense encounters associated with Mr. Musk’s team, Scott Bessent, was not present.) The president made it clear that he still supported Doge’s mission. But now is the time to be more refined, he said.
He said that from now on, the secretary will be in charge; Musk will only recommend.
It is unclear what the long-term impact of the meeting will be. Mr. Musk remains Mr. Trump’s biggest political and financial supporter—just this week, his super PAC aired a $1 million ad that said: “Thank you, President Trump”—Musk’s control over social media site X has both executives and cabinet secretary worried that he would target them publicly.
But if nothing else, the meeting revealed tensions within Mr. Trump’s team and news about the sharp conflict quickly spread among senior cabinet bodies after the end of the cabinet body. The account is based on interviews with five people with event knowledge.
After the meeting, Trump said in a social media article that the next phase of his plan to cut federal labor will be conducted with a “scalpel” instead of an “axe”, a clear reference to Mr. Musk's agile approach to earth.
Mr. Musk wore a suit and wore it with Thursday’s meeting instead of his usual T-shirt as Mr. Trump publicly spoke to him about his sloppy appearance, defending himself, saying he owned three companies, three of which had a multibillion-dollar market cap and his grades were for himself.
But he soon clashed with the cabinet members.
A moment before the explosion with Mr. Rubio, Mr. Musk and transport secretary Sean Duffy, the Federal Aviation Administration tracking aircraft equipment, what kind of repair is needed. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick jumped around and supported Mr. Musk.
Mr Duffy said Dorje’s young staff were trying to fire the air traffic controller. what do I do? Mr. Duffy said. I have had multiple plane crashes now, and your employees want me to fire the air traffic controller?
Mr. Musk told Mr. Duffy that his claim was a “lie.” Mr. Duffy insisted that it was not. He heard it directly from them. Mr. Musk asked who was fired, and he said: Give me their names. Tell me their names.
Mr. Duffy said there was no name because he prevented them from being fired. At another point, Mr. Musk insists that the people employed in the diversity, equity and inclusion program are controlling the tower. Mr. Duffy delayed it a little, Mr. Musk did not add details, but said in a longer echo that Mr. Duffy had a phone number and should call him if he had any questions to ask.
The exchange ended with Mr. Trump, telling Mr. Duffy that he had to hire MIT staff as air traffic controllers. These air traffic controllers must be “geniuses”, he said.
Secretary of Veterans Affairs Doug Collins has been dealing with one of the most sensitive challenges of all cabinet secretary. Mr. Musk's cuts will affect thousands of veterans, a core part of a strong constituency and Trump base. Mr. Collins noted that they shouldn't wave blunt objects and cut everyone off from the VA they need to be strategic. Mr. Trump agrees with Mr. Collins, saying they should keep smart people and get rid of bad people.
“As President Trump said, it was a great and productive meeting between his team members discussing cost-cutting measures and staffing across the federal government. Everyone is working as a team to help President Trump deliver on his promise to make our administration more efficient.”
State Department spokesman Tammy Bruce replied: “Secret Rubio believes the conference was open, productive discussion with a dynamic team that united to achieve the same goal: to make America great again.”
A spokesperson for the Department of Veterans Affairs said: “As President Trump said, it is important to improve efficiency and lower bureaucracy while maintaining the best and most productive federal employees. VA is working with Doge and other departments of the administration to do this.”
Transportation officials will not comment.
Mr. Musk later claimed on X that the cabinet meeting was “very productive” and that it seemed less enthusiastic in the room. He actively defended himself, reminding the cabinet secretary that he had built a $100 million company from scratch and had some knowledge of hiring good people.
Most cabinet members did not join the competition. Mr. Musk's anger at Mr. Rubio seemed to surprise, a person familiar with the matter said. Another said Mr. Musk's harsh reaction to Mr. Duffy and Mr. Rubio seemed to have stopped other cabinet members, many of whom complained privately about Doji.
However, it remains to be seen how long this new arrangement will last.
