Trump Holds First Cabinet Meeting
President Trump publicly backed efforts by Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, to slash government spending and cut the federal workforce on Wednesday, with the president downplaying potential conflicts between Musk and members of his Cabinet.
Mr. Trump opened his first Cabinet meeting shortly before noon at the White House, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth seated beside him. For more than an hour, Mr. Trump weighed in a wide range of topics, fielding questions from reporters on Ukraine, Russia, Taiwan, the House Republicans’ budget plan and more.
But first, the president allowed Musk, who is not a member of the Cabinet, to address the group and discuss his work to cancel contracts and fire workers across the executive branch. Musk is not formally leading the DOGE task force, but has been tasked with overseeing its work by the president.
“They have a lot of respect for Elon and that he’s doing this, and some disagree a little bit, but I will tell you for the most part I think everyone’s not only happy, they’re thrilled,” Mr. Trump said.
Over the weekend, Musk sent an email to the entire federal workforce asking them to document five things they accomplished over the past week. On X, he said those who failed to respond would risk losing their jobs.
The message sparked confusion from workers and multiple Senate-confirmed Cabinet members told their employees that they could ignore the demand, the first public sign of a split between Musk and other top officials.