Musk, Rubio Get Into Heated Exchange During Cabinet Meeting: Reports

At a hastily arranged Cabinet meeting at the White House on Thursday, Elon Musk engaged in a heated exchange with top Cabinet officials, particularly with Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

Reports are rife that Musk expressed strong dissatisfaction with Rubio's management of the department he leads, questioning the way Rubio has handled various aspects of his role. The confrontation became a notable moment during the session, as Musk challenged Rubio's approach in front of other high-ranking officials.

During the meeting, most of the Cabinet members seated around the table remained passive observers, refraining from engaging in the heated exchange between Elon Musk and Marco Rubio. The disagreement, which primarily focused on Musk's criticism of Rubio's management of the State Department, was first reported by the New York Times. While the other officials were present, they chose not to intervene or take sides in the confrontation, allowing the two to address their differences directly.

Musk accused Rubio of failing to take action within his department, specifically by not firing anyone, to which Rubio strongly disagreed. Rubio responded by pointing out that the agency had more than 1,000 employees take buyouts, a move he argued demonstrated his efforts in restructuring and managing the department, the report stated.

Rubio has been privately furious with Musk ever since he dismantled an agency supposedly under the Secretary's control: the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). Musk has effectively sought to eliminate the agency as part of his broader efforts to drastically cut federal spending, further intensifying tensions between the two. The top foreign affairs official, Rubio, fired back, insisting that Musk was wrong. He pointed to the more than 1,500 State Department staff members who had accepted the early retirement offer, asking, "Doesn't that count?" as a demonstration of the efforts made within the department.

Trump is said to have observed the exchange between Musk and Rubio before stepping in to interject. According to sources, he told Rubio that he was doing a good job, effectively trying to diffuse the tension and offer support to the Secretary of State amid the disagreement.

The Cabinet meeting revealed the deepening tensions within Trump's inner circle. While the president's team largely backs Musk's objective to cut federal government spending, there is growing concern over his erratic and disorganized methods, as reported by the Times. This divide underscores the challenges Trump faces in aligning his administration's fiscal priorities with the more structured approaches favored by some officials.

After the meeting, Trump publicly stated his intention to rein in Musk's approach. In a Truth Social post on Thursday evening, he wrote that the next phase of DOGE's budget cuts would be made with a "scalpel" instead of a "hatchet." Despite this, he emphasized that DOGE had still been an "incredible success."

Multiple members of Trump's Cabinet have privately voiced frustration for weeks over Musk's approach to cutting federal government spending. They have expressed concerns over the directives Musk and his DOGE team have issued to government employees, criticizing the chaotic and sweeping nature of the measures.