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It comes after several reports claimed that Rubio and Musk had a heated exchange on Friday (IST) during an explosive Cabinet meeting, in the presence of President Donald Trump
DOGE head Elon Musk, US President Donald Trump and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio | File Image/AFP
US President Donald Trump denied on Sunday (IST) a report of a clash between two of his senior administration members—DOGE head Elon Musk and Secretary of State Marco Rubio— labelling the claims as “fake news.”
Reports claimed that Rubio and Musk had a heated exchange on Friday (IST) during an explosive Cabinet meeting, in the presence of President Donald Trump, over the extent of staff cuts Rubio had implemented.
“Elon and Marco have a great relationship. Any statement other than that is fake news!!! Djt” said President Trump in a post on his Truth Social.
Earlier on Friday, Trump denied the clash reports for the first time, declaring: “No clash, I was there in the Cabinet meeting.” He went on to say that “they’re both (Musk and Rubio) doing a fantastic job … they both get along fantastically well.”
Musk-Rubio Clash: Reports
According to The New York Times, the intense exchange unfolded during the meeting where Trump made it clear: the Cabinet heads, not the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), will have the final say on hiring and firing of workforce at their agencies.
Musk, tasked by Trump to reduce federal workforce and government spending, accused Rubio of having fired “nobody” and resisting Musk’s push for large staff reductions.
“You haven’t fired anyone,” Musk told Rubio, mockingly adding that the only person he had fired was a staff member from Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency.
Rubio had been reportedly angry with Musk for weeks after his team dismantled the United States Agency for International Development, which was under Rubio’s control. But at Thursday’s meeting with Trump—Rubio finally voiced his frustrations.
In counter, Rubio accused Musk of “not being truthful.” Stating that 1,500 State Department employees had taken early retirement buyouts, he said, “Didn’t they count as layoffs?”
Rubio then asked sarcastically whether Musk wanted him to rehire all those people just so he could make a show of firing them again.
The meeting was called following complaints about the Musk operation’s blunt-force approach from agency heads to top White House officials, including chief of staff Susie Wiles.
