An explosive argument erupted between Secretary of State Marco Rubio and tech billionaire Elon Musk during a tense Cabinet meeting hosted by President Trump, a new report reveals.
Musk, the world’s richest person and head of several major companies, took aim at Rubio, accusing the former senator of failing to reduce the workforce at the State Department. Musk claimed Rubio was “good on TV” but not much else, according to The New York Times, which cited interviews with five people familiar with the meeting.
Rubio, who has been frustrated with Musk for a while, particularly after the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) proposed closing the U.S. Agency for International Development, strongly pushed back on Musk’s criticisms, questioning whether the 1,500 State Department employees who took early retirement should be brought back just to be fired again in order to count as layoffs.
As the tension in the room grew, President Trump stepped in to defend Rubio. He praised the Secretary of State’s work, noting how demanding his schedule was with media appearances and overseeing the State Department. Trump said Rubio was doing a “great job” under challenging circumstances.
When asked about the argument on Friday, Trump downplayed the clash, saying, “No clash, I was there, you’re just a troublemaker.” He added, “Elon gets along great with Marco, and they’re both doing a fantastic job.”
Trump, however, emphasized that Cabinet members were responsible for making decisions about job cuts and budgets, while Musk was there to advise. He told reporters, “I want them to do the best job they can, when we have good people that’s precious, that’s very important, and we want them to keep the good people.”
The clash wasn’t limited to Rubio. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy also found himself at odds with Musk over the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). Duffy accused Musk of attempting to fire air traffic controllers, but Musk strongly denied this claim, calling it a “lie.” The two went back and forth, with Musk challenging Duffy to name the controllers supposedly targeted for layoffs.
The confrontation ended when Trump intervened again, telling Duffy that air traffic controllers should come from top schools like MIT.
After the meeting, Duffy issued a statement calling the discussion “productive” and expressed strong support for Trump’s approach to reducing the federal workforce, calling it “revolutionary.”
Meanwhile, Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins revealed plans to cut 72,000 jobs, or 15 percent of the department’s workforce, a move that has sparked significant backlash from lawmakers. During the meeting, Trump and Collins agreed to take a careful approach to these cuts, aiming to keep the “smart ones” while removing the “bad ones.”
