Donald Trump's wild social media outburst after rumors about brutal Musk-Rubio fight spilled out
By Sarah Ewall-Wice
Daily Mail
Mar 8, 2025
Donald Trump insists his 'First Buddy' Elon Musk and Secretary of State Marco Rubio get on fine, despite their huge blowup in the Oval Office.
The world's richest man berated Rubio as they sat across a conference table, accusing him of not firing enough State Department workers.
Musk then 'scornfully' added perhaps the only person Rubio got rid of was a DOGE staff member, five witnesses told the New York Times.
But Rubio did not sit back in the meeting and just take it, instead accusing Musk of not being truthful.
The top Cabinet member asked whether the 1,500 State Department officials who took early retirement buyouts counted as layoffs.
He 'sarcastically' questioned if Musk wanted him to rehire them so he could fire them again, the NYT reported.
Trump didn't deny the NYT version of events in a social media outburst on Saturday evening, other than to insist the pair weren't at odds.
'ELON AND MARCO HAVE A GREAT RELATIONSHIP. ANY STATEMENT OTHER THAN THAT IS FAKE NEWS!!!' he wrote.
NYT's insiders said the argument dragged on for an 'uncomfortable time' as Musk told Rubio he was 'good on TV' suggesting he wasn't good for much else.
Through it all, Trump sat in his chair, arms crossed, watching the fight play out.
Finally, the 78-year-old intervened. He defended Rubio for doing a 'great job' and pointed out he was very busy traveling, was appearing on TV and had an agency to run.
The NYT described the meeting as a 'potential turning point' after Trump's whirlwind first few weeks of his second term.
It also signaled for the first time that the president was willing to rein in Musk as his DOGE team's work has caused chaos and confusion across the federal government.
While the fiery clash on Thursday has only just come to light, the meeting itself was widely reported as Trump gathered his Cabinet and made it clear they are in charge of the hirings and firings, not Musk.
He told his top officials they need to use a 'scalpel' for the workforce cuts.
'I don’t want to see a big cut where a lot of good people are cut,' Trump said after the Cabinet meeting.
'Elon and the group are going to be watching them, and if they can cut, it's better. And if they don't cut, then Elon will do the cutting.'
Even before Musk clashed with Rubio, he also got into it with Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy over the state of the FAA's equipment for tracking planes, the NYT reported.
Duffy accused DOGE of trying to lay off air traffic controllers. He pointed out that there have been multiple plane crashes and questioned Musk's team wanting him to fire air traffic controllers.
Musk claimed Duffy's assertion was a lie to which the transportation secretary insisted it was not and that he had heard from them directly.
Musk responded by demanding names, the NYT reported.
The hastily convened White House gathering came one day after Musk met with both House and Senate Republicans on Capitol Hill.
Some GOP lawmakers have begun to express concerns over how the spending cuts were being carried out.
DOGE has been the target of multiple lawsuits as it rushes forward with its mission to root out waste, fraud and abuse.
But federal workers have been forced to defend their work and in many cases shown the door.
Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) was created by Trump to find waste, fraud and abuse
As DOGE has pushed to cut the federal workforce, some department heads including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, FBI Director Kash Patel and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard - defied the DOGE head by telling their workers to ignore the directive.
It appears Musk may have lost the power struggle as Trump made clear during the impromptu meeting that the department heads were in charge of which federal workers are fired.
In a change from his appearance at the first Cabinet meeting, the billionaire wore a suit and tie on Thursday rather than a T-shirt.
Trump at the meeting also tired to offer praise for both Musk and his Cabinet secretaries, the New York Times reported.
No comments:
Post a Comment