Marco Rubio was furious. Here he was in the White House Cabinet Office, the Secretary of State, sitting by the president, hearing attacks from the wealthiest man in the world.
Beyond the oval mahogany table, Elon Musk, sitting on the other side, accused Rubio of failing to slash the staff.
You fired “Nobody,” Musk told Rubio, and perhaps the only person he fired was a staff member of Musk's Government Efficiency Bureau.
Rubio has been personally infuriated with Musk for weeks since his Doge team effectively shut down an entire institution that appears to be under Rubio's control. American International Development Agency. However, at an extraordinary cabinet meeting before the president, Rubio has gained dissatisfaction from his chest, although details have not been reported previously.
Musk was not true, Rubio said. What about the more than 1,500 State Department officials who retired early on the acquisition? Didn't they count as layoffs? He ironically asked if Musk wanted to rehire all those people so that he could make a show to fire them again. He then came up with his detailed plan to reorganize the State Department.
Musk was not impressed. He told Rubio “It's fine on TV,” but the clear subtext is that he's not good for others. Through all this, the president returned to his chair, crossing his arms as if he were watching a tennis match.
After the debate was dragged into an unpleasant time, Trump eventually stepped in to protect Rubio, saying he was doing a “great job.” Rubio has a lot to deal with, the president said. He is very busy, he is always traveling and travelling on TV, and he has an agency to run. So everyone needs to work together.
The meeting was a potential turning point after the enthusiastic first weeks of Trump's second term. It gave us the first important indication that Trump is willing to place some restrictions on Musk. The efforts have been the subject of several lawsuits and sparked concerns from Republican lawmakers.
Cabinet officials like the concept of what Musk was trying to do almost uniformly and uniformly – reducing government waste, fraud and abuse, but are unhappy with the chainsaw approach and lack of consistent coordination to overturn the government.
The Thursday meeting, which was suddenly scheduled for Wednesday evening, was a sign that Trump was paying attention to growing complaints. He tried to offer something to both sides by praising both Musk and his Cabinet Secretary. (The Treasury Department, Scott Bescent, who had at least one tense encounter related to Musk's team, did not exist.) The president made it clear that he still supports Doge's mission. But now was the time when the approach was a little more refined, he said.
He said the secretary will be in charge from now on. Musk's team just gives advice.
It is unclear what the long-term impact of the meeting will be. Musk remains Trump's biggest political supporter. This week, his super PAC aired ads worth $1 million, saying, “Thank you, President Trump.”
But if nothing else, the session bared tensions within Trump's team, and news of a sharp conflict spread rapidly through the senior ranks of cabinet agencies after it was over. This account is based on interviews with five people with knowledge of the event.
In a social media post after the meeting, Trump said the next phase of his plan to cut federal workforce will be “female” rather than “hatchet.”
After Trump publicly ribed him about his sloppy look, Musk, who wore a suit and tie at Thursday's meeting instead of a regular T-shirt, defended himself by saying that he has three companies with a market capitalization of tens of millions of dollars, and that his outcome would speak for himself.
However, he was soon in conflict with members of the Cabinet.
Just before the explosion between Rubio, Musk and Transport Secretary Sean Duffy, it went back and forth between the state of Federal Aviation Administration equipment to track the plane and what modifications needed. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick jumped in to support Musk.
Duffy said the younger Doge staff were about to fire an air traffic controller. What am I supposed to do? Duffy said. I have multiple plane crash drops to deal with now, and do you want me to fire the air traffic controller?
Musk told Duffy that his claim was a “false.” Duffy insisted that it was not the case. He had heard it directly from them. Musk asked who was fired and gave me their name. Please tell me their names.
Duffy said he didn't have a name because he kept his name from being fired. At another point, Musk argued that people hired under the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion programmes work at Control Tower. Duffy pushed back and Musk didn't add any details, but said that Duffy had a phone number and should call him if there were any issues to raise.
The exchange ended with Trump telling Duffy that he must hire people from MIT as air traffic controllers. These air traffic controllers need to be “geniuses,” he said.
Veterans Secretary Doug Collins addresses one of the most politically sensitive challenges of all Cabinet Secretaries. Musk's cuts affect thousands of veterans. This is the core part of a strong constituency and Trump base. Collins argued that they shouldn't separate everyone from Virginia, which is necessary to be strategic. Trump agreed with Collins and said they should keep the clever and get rid of the bad.
In response to a request for comment from the New York Times, White House Press Secretary Caroline Leavitt said in a statement: Everyone is working as one team to help President Trump support his promise to make the government more efficient. ”
State Department spokesman Tammy Bruce replied, “Secretary Rubio has come up with an open and productive discussion with a dynamic team united to achieve the same goals. Make America great again.”
A spokesman for the Bureau of Veterans Affairs said, “It's important to increase efficiency and reduce bureaucracy while maintaining the best and most productive federal employees, as President Trump said. The VA will work with Doge and other administrations to do just that.”
Transportation officials will not comment.
Musk later claimed that the Cabinet Meeting was “very productive” in X, but he didn't seem to be very enthusiastic in the room. He actively defended himself, reminding his cabinet secretary that he knew something about building billions of dollars of companies from scratch and hiring good people.
Most cabinet members did not participate in the contest. Musk's anger, particularly directed at Rubio, seemed to catch people in the room, to his surprise, said one person with knowledge of the meeting. Another said Musk's harsh reaction to Duffy and Rubio appears to have blocked other cabinet members, many of whom seem to be personally complaining about talking about Doge.
However, it is still unclear how long this new arrangement will be.
