- Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and Elon Musk squabbled during a cabinet meeting at the White House on Thursday, sources told the New York Times. Duffy was reportedly frustrated that Musk and DOGE had tried to cut air traffic control employees. Duffy also rebuffed Musk’s claim that air traffic controllers were hired from DEI initiatives.
Elon Musk and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy reportedly had a testy exchange in a White House meeting Thursday about the conditions of the Federal Aviation Administration’s equipment and its air traffic controllers, according to the New York Times.
Duffy said the DOGE team was trying to lay off air traffic controllers, and asked what he was supposed to do while dealing with multiple recent plane crashes.
In January, 67 people died after an American Airlines flight collided in midair with a military Black Hawk helicopter over the Potomac River near Washington, D.C. In February, an air ambulance crashed in Philadelphia shortly after takeoff, killing seven, and two small planes collided in midair over southern Arizona, killing two.
Musk called Duffy’s comments about layoffs a “lie,” sources told the Times. Duffy maintained his stance, saying he heard from the DOGE team directly.
Musk demanded the names of people who had been fired, prompting Duffy to fire back that there were no names because he blocked the terminations.
Duffy also rebuffed Musk’s claim that people hired from diversity, equity, and inclusion programs were working in control towers.
The interchange concluded with President Donald Trump telling Duffy that he needed to hire M.I.T. graduates as air traffic controllers, saying they need to be “geniuses,” the report said.
The FAA, Transportation Department, and US DOGE Service didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
On Friday, Duffy posted on X applauding Trump and the DOGE team, saying that the cabinet meeting was productive. “DOGE is doing incredible work helping agencies identify inefficiencies as well as advising us as we work on the critical upgrades to our air traffic control system,” he wrote.
Duffy added “the DEI Department at the FAA was eliminated on day 2.”
Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency have raised the ire of other officials during their cost-cutting endeavor. In the same cabinet meeting Thursday, Musk and Secretary of State Marco Rubio reportedly traded verbal blows about staffing.
Later in the meeting, Secretary of Veterans Affairs Doug Collins said that Musk’s cuts will impact thousands of veterans. According to the Times, Collins emphasized that they should not make massive layoffs. Trump agreed, saying that the VA needs to keep the smart ones and get rid of the bad ones.
“As President Trump has said, it’s important to increase efficiency and reduce bureaucracy while keeping in place the best and most productive federal employees,” a VA spokesperson told Fortune in a statement. “VA is working with DOGE and the rest of the administration to do just that.”
The airing of grievances among the cabinet helped curb DOGE’s cost-cutting spree. At the meeting, Trump said that DOGE and Musk will only advise, and that staffing decisions will be up to the secretaries.
“The President's approach of a scalpel versus a hatchet and better coordination between Secretaries and DOGE is the right approach to revolutionizing the way our government is run,” Duffy wrote on X.
