President Trump held a Cabinet meeting on Monday with billionaire adviser Elon Musk in attendance, where agency leaders emphasized their efforts to cut programs they deemed wasteful or unnecessary.
Trump went around the room and recognized each Cabinet official, most of whom touted efforts to promote the president’s agenda on the economy, immigration and national security issues.
Multiple officials touted cost-cutting efforts, however, which stood out given private disagreements between agency leaders and Musk about slashing the scope of the government.
“We are, with Elon’s help, eliminating the redundancies. We are streamlining our department,” Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said his department was working with Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) on efforts to upgrade the nation’s air traffic control systems.
Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins touted that her agency had canceled a $300,000 contract that she said went toward educating queer and transgender farmers on food justice and food equality.
Monday’s Cabinet meeting was more mundane than the first two Trump held during his second term. The first was dominated by Musk, the CEO of Tesla who has become a near-constant presence around Trump, while the second was marked by reported clashes between Musk and Cabinet secretaries over the rate at which they were firing employees.
Musk sat at the end of the table during Monday’s meeting wearing a red hat that said “Trump Was Right About Everything.”
