US President Donald Trump denied on Friday a report that his senior advisor, South Africa-born billionaire Elon Musk, had clashed with Secretary of State Marco Rubio throughout a White House assembly.
According to The New York Times, Musk argued with Rubio and individually with transportation secretary Sean Duffy throughout a cupboard assembly chaired by Trump on Thursday.
Slash prices and minimize jobs
Musk is main the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) in a drive to slash prices and minimize jobs throughout authorities departments, reportedly resulting in tensions with division heads.
After the assembly, Trump introduced that cuts would proceed however with a “scalpel” quite than a “hatchet”, implying that he had taken the chance to rein Musk in.
But, requested by reporters on Friday concerning the reported dispute, the president dismissed it, declaring: “No clash. I was there.”
He went on to insist of Musk and Rubio “they’re both doing a fantastic job … they both get along fantastically well.”
According to the Times report Musk scorned Rubio’s cost-cutting file on the State Department, accusing him of getting fired “nobody” within the administration’s first 45 days.
Rubio countered that 1 500 State Department officers had accepted early retirement, and sarcastically requested whether or not he ought to rent them again simply to sack them once more extra spectacularly.
In one other change, Duffy accused DOGE of getting tried to sack important air site visitors controllers proper as he offers with the aftermath of a number of airplane crashes, prompting Musk to accuse him of a “lie”, once more in accordance with the New York Times.
Trump reportedly intervened to halt the argument and counsel that henceforth the controllers be employed from the “geniuses” learning on the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Since coming to workplace, Trump’s administration has sacked or introduced the departure of tens of 1000’s of federal workers in a scorched-earth effectivity drive.
Several US media have reported friction between Musk and senior officers, who accuse his younger crew of DOGE officers – recruited from Silicon Valley – of exceeding their authority.
Who do you imagine: Donald Trump or the New York Times?
Let us know by leaving a remark under, or ship a WhatsApp to 060 011 021 1
Subscribe to The South African web site’s newsletters and observe us on WhatsApp, Facebook, X and Bluesky for the most recent information.