Secretary of State Rubio and Transportation Secretary Duffy had a quarrel with Musk in the presence of Trump - NYT

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy clashed with Elon Musk, who heads the Office of Government Efficiency. This occurred during a cabinet meeting attended by U.S. President Donald Trump. This was reported by The New York Times, as conveyed by UNN.

Details

According to the publication, Rubio was furious because Musk accused him of not reducing staff.

"You haven't fired anyone," Musk stated, adding that the only person Rubio had fired was an employee from the Office of Government Efficiency who belonged to Musk himself.

"Rubio has been angry at Mr. Musk for several weeks since his team effectively shut down an entire agency that was supposedly under Rubio's control - the U.S. Agency for International Development. But at an emergency cabinet meeting attended by President Trump and about 20 others - details of which had not been previously reported - Rubio vented his frustrations," the publication notes.

It is emphasized that Rubio told Musk that he was lying. Rubio cited the example that over 1500 officials retired early.

"Aren't they considered fired?" Rubio asked Musk.

He sarcastically asked if Musk wanted him to rehire all those people just to then stage a firing show. He then laid out his detailed plans for reorganizing the State Department.

"Musk was not impressed. He told Rubio that he was "good on television," implying that he was capable of nothing else. Throughout this time, the president sat back in his chair, arms crossed, as if watching a tennis match," the publication writes.

After the argument dragged on for a long time, Trump finally intervened to defend Rubio, who was doing a "great job."

"Mr. Rubio has a lot on his plate. He is very busy, he is constantly traveling and appearing on television, and he has an agency that he must manage. So everyone just needs to work together," Trump said.

Additionally, just a few minutes before the argument with Rubio, Musk and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy were discussing the state of the Federal Aviation Administration's equipment for tracking planes and what needed to be fixed.

Duffy said that young members of Musk's team were trying to fire air traffic controllers.

"And what am I supposed to do? I have several aviation disasters right now, and your people want me to fire air traffic controllers?" Duffy asked.

Musk told Duffy that his claims were "lies." Musk, asking who had been fired, said: "Name their names. Name their names."

Duffy replied that he had no names because he had prevented their firing. At another moment, Musk insisted that people hired under diversity, equity, and inclusion programs were working in the control towers.

Reminder

U.S. President Donald Trump reported that billionaire Elon Musk would no longer have the authority to make key decisions regarding policy and personnel in the government.