Musk reportedly clashed with Trump officials over DOGE staffing cuts at heated meeting

Elon Musk reportedly clashed with senior Trump officials at an explosive cabinet room meeting on Thursday, as the President moved to rein in DOGE’s power.

Donald Trump has denied reports a clash broke out between Elon Musk and a senior government official at an explosive cabinet room meeting on Thursday, where the President had to step in to reiterate that secretaries, rather than Mr Musk, would have the final say on DOGE staffing cuts.

Thursday’s meeting, attended by about 20 people including Mr Musk, Mr Trump and most of his cabinet, was described afterwards as “very productive” by the Tesla billionaire and “very positive” by the President.

But according to a report in The New York Times, behind closed doors there were explosive scenes as an angry Mr Musk took aim at several cabinet secretaries, who in turn hit back as simmering tensions spilled over.

While Mr Trump’s cabinet secretaries support DOGE’s stated goal of cutting waste, fraud and abuse, some have reportedly grown frustrated with the chainsaw approach and lack of consistent co-ordination.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy in particular had heated clashes with Mr Musk, according to The Times’ account of the meeting, which it said was based on interviews with five people with knowledge of the events.

Elon Musk attends Thursday’s cabinet meeting. Picture: X

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However, Mr Trump denied reports of a dispute between Mr Musk and Mr Rubio when questioned by a reporter on Friday.

“No clash. I was there,” the President said before calling the reporter a “troublemaker”.

“You’re not supposed to be asking that question because we’re talking about the World Cup,” Mr Trump added, referring to an executive he had signed establishing the White House Task Force for 2026 FIFA World Cup.

“Elon gets along great with Marco, and they’re both doing a fantastic job. There is no clash.”

Donald Trump denied reports of a "clash". Picture: X

According to The New York Times, Mr Rubio reportedly bore the brunt of Mr Musk’s attacks, with the latter’s anger catching many in the room by surprise.

Throughout the meeting Mr Musk aggressively defended himself, reminding people he had built multiple billion-dollar companies and knew how to hire good people, per The Times.

Mr Musk — who wore a suit and tie to the meeting after Mr Trump publicly mocked his sloppy appearance — allegedly accused Mr Rubio of firing “nobody”, before scornfully suggesting that the only person he had fired was a staff member from Mr Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

Mr Rubio hit back that Mr Musk was not being truthful, pointing out more than 1500 State Department officials had taken early retirement buyouts. Mr Musk then jibed that Mr Rubio was “good on TV”, implying he was not good at much else.

According to The New York Times, Mr Rubio had been privately furious with Mr Musk ever since his DOGE team effectively shuttered an agency under his control, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

"We just had a meeting with most of the Secretaries, Elon, and others, and it was a very positive one. It’s very important that we cut levels down to where they should be, but it’s also important to keep the best and most productive people... The relationships between everybody… pic.twitter.com/nbvR2TYHzV

— The White House (@WhiteHouse) March 6, 2025

“Throughout all of this, the President sat back in his chair, arms folded, as if he were watching a tennis match,” The Times reported.

“After the argument dragged on for an uncomfortable time, Mr Trump finally intervened to defend Mr Rubio as doing a ‘great job’. Mr Rubio has a lot to deal with, the President said. He is very busy, he is always travelling and on TV, and he has an agency to run. So everyone just needs to work together.”

Moments before his blow-up with Mr Rubio, the billionaire had clashed with Mr Duffy, after the Transportation Secretary claimed his DOGE staffers were trying to fire air traffic controllers, which Mr Musk insisted was a “lie”.

The pair argued back and forth, with Mr Musk also claiming people hired under diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs were working in control towers.

Mr Trump intervened by telling Mr Duffy he had to hire people from MIT as air traffic controllers as they need to be “geniuses”.

President Donald Trump said it was a ‘very positive’ meeting. Picture: X

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In a post on X on Friday, Mr Duffy thanked the President for “another productive cabinet meeting” and said the Transportation Department would “continue to work closely with Elon Musk and his team to revolutionise the way government is run”.

“DOGE is doing incredible work helping agencies identity inefficiencies as well as advising us as we work on the critical upgrades to our air traffic control system,” he said.

“During the cabinet meeting, I discussed the importance of safety, particularly at the FAA and with air traffic controllers. The DEI department at the FAA was eliminated on day two.”

A State Department spokeswoman told The Times that Mr Rubio “considered the meeting an open and productive discussion with a dynamic team that is united in achieving the same goal — making America great again”.

Mr Musk posted only, “Very productive meeting.”

Writing on social media after the meeting, Mr Trump said staffing cuts would be done with a “scalpel” rather than “hatchet”.

“DOGE has been an incredible success, and now that we have my cabinet in place, I have instructed the secretaries and leadership to work with DOGE on cost cutting measures and staffing,” he said.

“As the secretaries learn about, and understand, the people working for the various departments, they can be very precise as to who will remain, and who will go. We say the ‘scalpel’ rather than the ‘hatchet’. The combination of them, Elon, DOGE, and other great people will be able to do things at a historic level.”

Mr Trump insisted the meeting was “a very positive one”.

“It’s very important that we cut levels down to where they should be, but it’s also important to keep the best and most productive people,” he said.

“We’re going to have these meetings every two weeks until that aspect of this very necessary job is done. The relationships between everybody in that room are extraordinary. They all want to get to the exact same place, which is, simply, to MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”

Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk departs the White House. Picture: Roberto Schmidt/AFP

The President’s message represents the first move to rein in the power accorded to Mr Musk, as DOGE works toward gutting federal staffing and spending.

But later, directly asked by reporters whether DOGE and Mr Musk were moving too fast, Mr Trump said, “No, I think they’ve done an amazing job.”

While Mr Musk is not the formal administrator of DOGE, the SpaceX and Tesla chief executive is nonetheless directing operations and even attended the first cabinet meeting of Mr Trump’s second term.

The body’s cost-cutting campaign has faced increasing resistance on multiple fronts, however, including court rulings and some pressure from lawmakers.

Mr Trump confirmed reports in the US media that he had convened his cabinet in person on Thursday to deliver the message that they, not Mr Musk, were in charge of their departments.

Mr Trump told his team, with Mr Musk in the room and on board, that the tech billionaire and top donor was authorised to recommend firings and other cuts but not to enforce them, according to Politico.

The President said follow-up cabinet meetings on DOGE would come every two weeks.

Mr Trump’s message came with the administration having fired or threatened to axe tens of thousands of workers from numerous federal agencies as it pursues cost savings.

More than two million federal employees received demands from the US Office of Personnel Management (OPM) — the government’s human resources department — and Mr Musk himself that they account for the work they have been doing in a bullet pointed memo or face the sack.

Labour groups quickly opposed the request, with the largest federal employee union, the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), vowing to challenge any unlawful terminations.

Dozens of lawsuits against Mr Musk’s threats or demands have yielded mixed results, with some requests for immediate halts to his executive orders being denied by judges.

Politico said Mr Musk — who had meetings with Republican lawmakers on Wednesday to reassure them over criticism of DOGE — acknowledged in front of the cabinet that the task force had made missteps.

— with AFP

Originally published as Musk reportedly clashed with Trump officials over DOGE staffing cuts at heated meeting