Senator Rick Scott (R-Fla.) said on Sunday that Elon Musk doesn’t have the authority to fire people.
“Musk does not have the power to fire people. The president of the United States is Donald Trump, and the heads of agencies are the ones who manage their departments. That’s what Musk has told me again and again,” Scott explained during an interview on CNN’s State of the Union with Jake Tapper.
Scott’s comments come after reports of tension between Musk and Secretary of State Marco Rubio during a Cabinet meeting last week. According to The New York Times, Musk criticized Rubio for not firing enough people at the State Department and called him “good on TV” but ineffective in his role.
The article also mentioned that Rubio had been privately upset with Musk, especially after Musk’s involvement with the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which has worked on efforts to shut down the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). USAID manages billions of dollars for humanitarian, security, and development aid in over 100 countries.
During the Cabinet meeting, Rubio responded, saying Musk was not telling the truth. He even asked if the 1,500 State Department workers who took early retirement should be brought back just to be fired later to count as layoffs.
Scott also defended President Trump’s approach to government, saying, “The president was elected by the American people to reduce government waste and bring more accountability and transparency.” He added, “That’s exactly what Trump is doing.”
On Saturday, Trump posted on his Truth Social platform, saying, “ELON AND MARCO HAVE A GREAT RELATIONSHIP.”
