President Donald Trump will gather his Cabinet secretaries for a third known meeting Monday morning with Elon Musk expected to attend, according to a senior administration official.
The official described the 11 a.m. gathering as a “follow-up on the last DOGE meeting,” in reference to a meeting on March 6 where Trump placed limits on the billionaire tycoon’s authority amid backlash to new cuts by the Department of Government Efficiency.
Trump said secretaries could be “very precise” in who they choose to cut from their departments, adding, “We say the ‘scalpel’ rather than the ‘hatchet.’”
But Trump indicated that Musk would intervene if the department leaders don’t make sufficient cuts. “If they can cut, it’s better. If they don’t cut, then Elon will do the cutting,” Trump said.
And the meeting turned explosive as Musk claimed that Secretary of State Marco Rubio had fired “nobody,” according to The New York Times.
Trump said afterward on Truth Social that follow-up meetings would take place every two weeks, with Monday’s meeting roughly aligning with that timeline.
It comes as Trump’s administration faces legal challenges over immigration and prepares to unveil new tariffs — and as Musk continues to draw scrutiny over his role.
On Friday, Trump disputed a report that Musk would receive a briefing on the U.S. military’s plans for a potential conflict with China during a visit to the Pentagon, saying that the tech billionaire is “not there for China, and if you ever mentioned China, I think he’d walk out of the room.” The president insisted the visit was focused on Musk’s DOGE efforts.
At the Cabinet meeting earlier this month, Musk took center stage as he explained DOGE’s work as “a support function for the president and for the agencies and departments to help achieve those savings to effectively find 15% reduction in fraud and waste.”
“He’s sacrificing a lot,” Trump said as he introduced Musk at the meeting. “He’s getting a lot of praise, I’ll tell you, but he’s also getting hit.”
The event occurred shortly after several secretaries appeared to buck the Department of Government Efficiency’s efforts by instructing staff to put aside a directive coming from Musk and his allies that required a five-point response to the question, “What did you do last week?”
