President Donald Trump snapped at a reporter who asked him about Marco Rubio’s blow-up at Elon Musk at a Cabinet meeting.
Trump insisted Thursday’s closed-door meeting was completely harmonious, despite reports that Musk and the secretary of state had clashed in a tense back-and-forth.
“No one clashed, I was there,” Trump shot back at a reporter who asked him about the reports on Friday, before chastising him: “You’re just a troublemaker, and you’re not supposed to be asking that question.”
The president then shifted to a more threatening tone, asking, “Who are you with?” When the reporter identified himself as an NBC journalist and continued pressing about the meeting, the president cut him off, “That’s enough.”
Speculation has swirled over whether Trump’s patience with Musk has finally worn thin after reports suggested Trump had sided with Rubio in the latter’s alleged spat with the billionaire.
The New York Times reported, that during the meeting, Musk accused Rubio of having fired “nobody,” except perhaps a staff member from the Department of Government Efficiency.
Rubio shot back, boasting about layoffs at the State Department and asking sarcastically if he should rehire workers so he could fire them again.
Rubio had reportedly been angry with Musk since the latter gleefully gutted the U.S. Agency for International Development, an agency that is supposed to be under Rubio’s control.
A heated exchange reportedly ensued in which Musk implied that Rubio was not good for much else other than TV.
But in response to the reporter’s questions on Friday, Trump claimed: “Elon gets along great with Marco.”
Trump reportedly stepped in to end the scuffle, which unfolded in front of approximately 20 other officials, defending Rubio as someone who has a lot to deal with and was doing a “great job.”
At the same meeting, Musk also apparently clashed with other officials, who took issue with the billionaire’s rash and chaotic methods. Trump later publicly signaled that he was putting a leash on Musk, announcing that, moving forward, DOGE’s cuts would be made with a “scalpel” rather than a “hatchet.”
