Musk rips Rubio for 'not firing enough federal workers' at Trump Cabinet meeting: Report

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio reportedly had a war of words with billionaire Elon Musk at the second Cabinet meeting of US President Donald Trump. According to The New York Times, the Tesla CEO, who is touted as a close adviser to the president, tore into Rubio and scolded him for “not firing much of the workforce” at the Department of State. As per the report, Musk went on to claim that the former senator is only “good for TV” but barely anything else.

The NYT report, citing interviews with five people aware of the events, claimed that Rubio had been “furious” with Musk for some time. He was particularly upset when Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) set its sights on shutting down the US Agency for International Development ( USAID ). Interestingly, the Thursday cabinet meeting was not attended by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.

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In an effort to push back against Musk’s rhetoric, the secretary of state argued that the billionaire was “not telling the truth.” He went on to ask if more than 1,500 State Department workers who went into early retirement should be brought back only to be fired in order to count as layoffs, NYT reported.

Trump had to break up the fight

After an intense back-and-forth exchange between the two, the president had to step in and break up the fight. According to the NYT, Trump defended Rubio and said he is doing a “great job” while dealing with a “loaded schedule”. During his sit-down at the Oval Office, Trump was asked by reporters about the clash.

He denied that Rubio and Musk had a fight and hailed both of their contributions to his administration. “No clash, I was there, you’re just a troublemaker,” Trump said. “And you’re not supposed to be asking that question because we’re talking about the World Cup," he added.

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“Elon gets along great with Marco, and they’re both doing a fantastic job. There is no clash,” the president remarked, with FIFA head Gianni Infantino standing beside him. Minutes later, when Trump was asked about the incident once again, he brushed away the matter. “They both get along fantastically well,” Trump told reporters. “Marco has done unbelievably as secretary of state. And Elon is a unique guy, he’s done a fantastic job.”

Meanwhile, State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce told the New York Times that Rubio “considered the meeting an open and productive discussion with a dynamic team that is united in achieving the same goal: making America great again.” During the meeting, Trump made it clear that the Department heads are the ones who will ultimately decide to greenlight any sort of job and budget cuts. He insisted that Musk only has an advisory role .

“I want the Cabinet members to go first, keep all the people you want. Everybody that you need,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Thursday. “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 president added. “So, we’re going to be watching them. Elon and the group are going to be watching them. If they can cut, it’s better. And if they don’t cut, then Elon will do the cutting.”