In a show of unwavering support for tech billionaire Elon Musk, President Donald Trump issued a stark warning to his Cabinet during their first official meeting on Wednesday.
“Anybody unhappy with Elon? If you are, we’ll throw them out of here,” Trump declared when questioned about reported tensions between Musk and Cabinet members.
The assembled secretaries, including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and Attorney General Pam Bondi, quickly shook their heads in response. The confrontation came after reports emerged of growing frustration among Cabinet officials regarding Musk’s expanding influence through his leadership of DOGE, a government efficiency initiative that claims to have saved taxpayers $65 billion by eliminating jobs and programs.
Trump lavished praise on Musk during the meeting, describing him as “tremendously successful” and acknowledging the personal sacrifices the SpaceX and Tesla CEO is making to lead the cost-cutting agency.
The president insisted his Cabinet has “a lot of respect” for Musk, adding that “for the most part, I think everyone is not only happy, they’re thrilled.”
Musk returned the flattery, calling Trump’s appointees “the best Cabinet ever, literally.”
“I do not give false praise. This is an incredible group of people. I don’t think such a talented team has ever been assembled,” the South African-born entrepreneur gushed.
The public display of mutual admiration follows CNN’s Tuesday report that Musk’s approach has begun to “grate on Cabinet secretaries,” particularly after he ordered all federal employees to email reports of their weekly activities—with the threat of termination for non-compliance.
When pressed about the tension at a Tuesday briefing, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt rejected the premise, blaming “anonymous sources, probably career bureaucrats” for leaking information.
She insisted that “everybody is working as one team” despite reports that Cabinet members weren’t given advance notice of Musk’s directive.
“The president respects the decisions of his Cabinet secretaries to tell their staff not to respond to that email because they did so out of the interests of national security,” Leavitt added. “It’s pretty common sense.”
