Elon Musk may not be a Cabinet member, but his importance to President Donald Trump’s second administration was apparent during the first meeting of Trump’s department and agency heads.
Although Trump used the meeting as an opportunity to respond to reporters’ questions for 50 minutes, he also provided Musk with a platform to defend his Department of Government Efficiency, which has dominated news coverage during the first month of Trump’s presidency, much of it critical.
“Anybody unhappy with Elon? If you are, then we’ll throw them out of here,” Trump said in response to a question about reported tensions, prompting applause started by Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Cabinet members seated around the table in the White House‘s Cabinet Room.
Trump added, “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.”
For his part, Musk appeared deferential to the Cabinet, referring to himself as “humble tech support” before praising Trump’s Cabinet as “the best … ever, literally” as he stood before them, as opposed to having his own seat at the table.
“And I do not give false praise,” Musk said.
After he underscored his priority of addressing the federal deficit, many of the questions directed at Musk were regarding the email DOGE sent federal employees last week, asking them to respond with five tasks they completed in the past five days or risk being terminated.
Confusion concerning the email has since ensued, with department and agency heads, including FBI Director Kash Patel, advising their workforce to ignore the note before the Office of Personnel Management informed federal personnel the email was voluntary despite Musk’s public comments to the contrary.
On Wednesday, Musk reiterated that he and DOGE “will make mistakes” and “won’t be perfect,” citing how his aides “accidentally canceled, very briefly … ebola prevention” as part of their cuts to the United States Agency for International Development.
But Musk stood by the email, contending it was perceived “as a performance review, but actually it was a pulse check review.”
Trump later indicated he would support sending another similar email because of the number of people who did not respond to the first.
“It’s a good idea because those people are on the bubble,” Trump said. “You’ve got a lot of people that have not responded, so we’re trying to figure out, do they exist? Who are they? It’s possible that a lot of those people will be actually fired.”
He continued, “If that happened, that’s OK because that’s what we’re trying to do. This country has gotten bloated and fat and disgusting.”
Aside from Musk’s moment, Trump announced that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky would be at the White House on Friday to sign an unprecedented rare earth minerals deal, with the expectation that the U.S. would propose an unspecified security guarantee.
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“President Zelensky is going to be coming on Friday. It’s now confirmed, and we’re going to be signing an agreement,” Trump said.
Musk and Trump had the most speaking time, aside from Lutnick responding to questions about tariffs and Trump’s proposed $5 million “gold card” pathway for wealthy foreign nationals seeking to become U.S. citizens. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Scott Turner opened the meeting with a prayer.