President Trump insisted that Secretary of State Marco Rubio and close Trump adviser Elon Musk have a “great relationship” following an explosive report that the two clashed during a contentious Cabinet meeting on Thursday.
The secretary of state and tech billionaire reportedly got into a heated argument about workforce cuts, with Musk telling Rubio that he’s only “good on TV” but not for much else, according to The New York Times.
Rubio, the former Florida senator, has been “furious” with the tech billionaire, who leads six prominent companies, for a while now, especially after the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) looked to eviscerate the U.S. Agency for International Development, the agency that administers billions of dollars of foreign aid overseas, the Times reported on Friday.
During the Thursday meeting, Rubio fired back when pressed by Musk over the lack of terminations at the State Department. Rubio pointed to the 1,500 State Department employees who retired early and asked if they should be brought back only to be sacked and counted as another round of layoffs.
Trump interjected and defended the secretary of state, lauding the country’s top diplomat for doing a “great job” and pointing to his busy schedule between running the State Department, participating in peace talks and doing a number of television appearances, the Times reported.
“ELON AND MARCO HAVE A GREAT RELATIONSHIP. ANY STATEMENT OTHER THAN THAT IS FAKE NEWS!!! DJT” Trump wrote in a Saturday post on Truth Social denying the confrontation.
The president also dispelled reports of the clash when pressed by reporters Friday in the Oval Office.
“Elon gets along great with Marco, and they’re both doing a fantastic job. There is no clash,” Trump said. He later added, “They both get along fantastically well.”
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt also blew off talk of a disagreement in a previous statement to The Hill.
“As President Trump said, this was a great and productive meeting amongst members of his team to discuss cost-cutting measures and staffing across the federal government. Everyone is working as one team to help President Trump deliver on his promise to make our government more efficient,” Leavitt said.
Musk and Rubio have not publicly addressed the reports.
State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said to The Times that Rubio “considered the meeting an open and productive discussion with a dynamic team that is united in achieving the same goal: making America great again.”
