'Keep all people you need': Trump tells his Cabinet Musk is an advisor, not in charge

At a Cabinet meeting on Thursday, US President Donald Trump set the record straight that his ministers are in charge of their departments and not his so-called ‘First Buddy’ Elon Musk . Two administration officials who were present during the meeting told Politico that Trump made it clear to the top members of his Cabinet that Musk is only empowered to make recommendations to respective departments.

Trump maintained that his billionaire friend is not supposed to issue unilateral decisions on staffing and other policies. Interestingly, the POTUS made all these proclamations while Musk was in the room. The meeting came days after a series of mass firings and threats to government workers were passed on by the Tesla CEO at the helm of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

These frequent warnings from DOGE have created broad uncertainty across the federal government and its workforce. In recent days, the temporary department’s actions have faced ferocious resistance in court and are often criticised by both Democratic and some Republican lawmakers.

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Is Trump tightening the leash on Musk?

The president’s remarks at the Cabinet meeting are now seen as the first significant move to narrow Musk and his department’s overarching mandate. In his new guidance, the president made it clear that DOGE and its staff should play an advisory role — but Cabinet secretaries should make final decisions on personnel, policy and the pacing of implementation.

Following the president’s remarks, Musk made it clear that he was on board to lead the department only under Trump’s directive. One person familiar with the meeting told Politico that Musk acknowledged that DOGE had made some missteps — a message he shared earlier this week with members of Congress. Meanwhile, Trump stressed that he wants to keep good people in his administration and has no intention to eject capable federal workers.

This is in contrast to what is currently happening in his White House. In just over one month, Trump’s administration has managed to fire tens of thousands of federal workers across numerous agencies in a series of blanket terminations. In light of this, a federal judge and the chair of a federal civil service board have both concluded that the terminations were not tied to performance issues — and may have violated civil service laws. It remains unclear whether the new directive would lead to more workers getting laid off or initiate a rehiring process.

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‘Keep all people you need’: Trump

Following the Cabinet meeting, Trump took to TruthSocial, where he promised to hold similar meetings every two weeks. “As the Secretaries learn about, and understand, the people working for the various Departments, they can be very precise as to who will remain, and who will go,” he wrote. “We say the ‘scalpel’ rather than the ‘hatchet.’ The combination of them, Elon, DOGE, and other great people will be able to do things at a historic level," the president furthered.

While speaking to reporters after the meeting, Trump said that he wants his Cabinet members to “keep all the people you want, everybody that you need.”

However, he maintained that he wanted to make cuts and that Musk would continue to remain a power centre. “If they can cut, it’s better. And if they don’t cut, then Elon will do the cutting," he said. Musk later retweeted Trump’s post and called it a “very productive meeting.”