During the US President Donald Trump’s first Cabinet meeting, Elon Musk, who helms the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, said “we will make mistakes” but cleared that it would soon be corrected.
“We will make mistakes. We won’t be perfect … so for example, with USAID, one of the things we accidentally canceled very briefly was Ebola prevention,” the tech billionaire said.
He further said: “So we restored the Ebola prevention immediately and there was no interruption. But we do need to move quickly if we were to achieve a trillion dollar deficit reduction in the financial year 2026.”
Elon Musk dominated much of the discussion in the meeting, raising questions about his growing influence in the government.
Roughly 12 minutes into the meeting, President Trump addressed the subject everyone in the room was thinking about. Musk, who helms the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE dressed entirely in black, stood at the head of the table, a clear presence in the discussion.
The president, aiming to maintain a light-hearted atmosphere, posed a direct question to his cabinet.
“Is anybody unhappy with Elon?” he asked, according to the New York Times.
Nervous laughter rippled through the room. “If you are,” he added, “we’ll throw him out of here”. The cabinet members responded with applause, reported NYT.
Although it was intended as a joke, it underscored the tension surrounding Musk’s unprecedented role in the administration. Just days before, he had bypassed standard government channels and issued a directive requiring millions of federal employees to submit a written report of their daily work or risk termination.
The move sparked resistance within multiple agencies, including the State, Defense, Energy, Homeland Security, and Justice Departments, whose leaders advised employees to ignore the directive.
Musk remained defiant. He took to social media to highlight what he saw as failures, stating that many employees had “failed even that inane test, urged on in some cases by their managers”.
The White House press secretary struggled to clarify the situation, leaving uncertainty over who exactly was in charge.
During the meeting, the Tesla chief defended his controversial order, claiming he had cleared it with the president beforehand.
“I said, ‘Can we send out an email to everyone just saying what did you get done last week,’ and the president said yes,” he explained. The reversal of Washington’s traditional chain of command was striking—rather than taking the blame, Musk pointed directly to Trump, who nodded in agreement.
Despite not being seated at the main table, Musk dominated much of the meeting after Trump invited him to speak first. “I’d like to have Elon Musk please say a few words,” the Trump said.
What followed was a lengthy speech from Musk, during which he emphasized his role and the pressure he was facing.
“I’m taking a lot of flack,” he said. “And getting a lot of death threats, by the way.” He stressed the importance of his work, adding, “If we don’t do this, America will go bankrupt. That’s why it has to be done.”
His appearance in the room set him apart from the other cabinet members. Sporting a black MAGA hat and the same “Tech Support” T-shirt he had worn during his recent Fox News interview with the president, Musk sought to align himself with the administration while maintaining his outsider status. “President Trump has put together the best cabinet ever, literally,” he declared. “I don’t think that such a talented team has ever been assembled.” The cabinet members looked on, some nodding, others silent.
To reinforce a sense of unity, Trump took to social media hours before the meeting to counter rumors of discord. “ALL CABINET MEMBERS ARE EXTREMELY HAPPY WITH ELON,” he posted. “The Media will see that at the Cabinet Meeting this morning!!!”
The meeting left little doubt about Musk’s unusual role within the administration. While cabinet members wrestled with their billionaire boss’s directives, they also had to contend with Musk—a force unto himself, wielding influence in ways that had not been seen before in Washington.