 "Elon Musk speaks as President Donald Trump holds his first Cabinet meeting at the White House in Washington, on Wednesday. AP")
President Donald Trump on Wednesday convened his first official Cabinet meeting since starting his second term, featuring agency leaders who have displayed varying levels of loyalty to him both publicly and privately.
According to a CNN report, Elon Musk, the tech billionaire known for advocating a reduction in the federal workforce, was also present in the meeting, despite not being a Cabinet member.
The White House announced earlier Wednesday that he will attend as “Cabinet secretaries take the advice and direction” of the Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency.
During the meeting, as Musk stood up to speak, he said he was “tech support” and DOGE was doing lots of work to “fix the government computer systems.”
He later added that he had received “a lot of death threats,” over the work he has been doing, which has involved hundreds of people losing their jobs.
Over the weekend, Musk sent out an email urging federal employees to clarify their roles or face the risk of job loss. Following this, one million federal workers responded, amid mixed messages from Musk, Trump, and different agencies.
When asked about the email, Musk clarified that it was not intended as a “performance review,” but rather a “pulse check review.”
“We think there are a number of people on the government payroll who are dead. Which is probably why they can’t respond. And some people who are not real people, like they’re literally fictional individuals that are collecting pay checks,” CNN quoted him as saying.
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View All“So we’re literally trying to figure out, are these people real, are they alive and can they write an email?" Musk added.
The DOGE leader emphasised that the reform of federal workers could only have been achieved “with the support of everyone in this room.”
Musk also acknowledged that his extensive overhaul of the US government involved laying off some key positions.
He pointed out that USAID’s Ebola prevention programmes were “accidentally” cut during this process but assured that the cancellation was promptly reversed.
Amid reports that Musk’s directives to federal employees are causing tension with Cabinet secretaries, Trump acknowledged during the meeting that some Cabinet members “disagree a little bit” with Musk.
“Anybody unhappy with Elon? If you are, then we’ll throw them out of here,” CNN quoted Trump as saying, prompting varying levels of applause from the Cabinet members seated around the table in the Cabinet Room.
He continued, “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.”
Those comments come after CNN reported that Cabinet officials were not given a heads up about a Saturday email from the Office of Personnel Management sent at Musk’s direction, which asked: “What did you do last week?”
That email swiftly set off questions over who has the authority to issue directives to employees across different departments.
With inputs from agencies