Secretary of State Marco Rubio reportedly clashed with Elon Musk at a cabinet meeting on Thursday after the billionaire accused him of not making enough cuts at the State Department.
According to an account published by The New York Times, Musk told Rubio he had fired "nobody." The former Florida senator recalled that 1,500 officials took early retirements and sarcastically asked if Musk wanted to rehire them again just to make a show of firing them again.
The outlet described Rubio as "incensed," noting that he has been "privately furious" with Musk ever since the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) shuttered USAID.
The argument "dragged on for an uncomfortable time" before President Donald Trump decided to intervene, saying Rubio was doing a "great job" and highlighting his numerous responsibilities.
Rubio was not the only cabinet member to clash with Musk. The NYT also detailed an argument between Musk and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, who said Musk's staff was trying to fire air traffic controllers even during a period where aircraft crashes have been grabbing headlines.
Musk accused Duffy of lying, something the secretary rejected. Musk then asked Duffy for names of people who had been fired, to which he replied there were no names because he had stopped the firing. They also exchanged words after Musk insisted that people hired under diversity, equity and inclusion programs were working in control towers.
The meeting ended with Trump telling cabinet members that that they run their own departments, not the billionaire entrepreneur. The president said that Musk is empowered to make recommendations on their departments but not to issue unilateral decisions on staffing and policy.
"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," Trump wrote in a post on his social media platform, Truth Social. "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."
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