WASHINGTON — Shortly after President Donald Trump attempted to clamp down on a recent report of an explosive cabinet meeting between billionaire Elon Musk and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, he broke bread with the duo.
“ELON AND MARCO HAVE A GREAT RELATIONSHIP. ANY STATEMENT OTHER THAN THAT IS FAKE NEWS!!! DJT,” Trump posted on Truth Social. On Sunday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed that Trump had dinner with Rubio and Musk Saturday night.
The dinner follows a New York Times report that Musk and Rubio clashed at a Cabinet meeting on Thursday, with Trump present, about the former senator failing to cut his staff.
Musk, the CEO of SpaceX and Tesla, who is categorized as a “special government employee,” has made sweeping cuts to the federal government, implemented mass firings, and canceled billions of dollars in contracts as part of running the Department of Government Efficiency.
The Times reported Rubio had been “privately furious” with Musk for weeks as DOGE gutted the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), which was being overseen by the ex-Florida lawmaker.
Rubio retorted by pointing to 1,500 State Department officials who took early retirement in buyouts.
During the episode, with about 20 people in the room, Trump “sat back in his chair, arms folded, as if he were watching a tennis match,” the Times reported. The argument, according to the Times, dragged on for an “uncomfortable time,” with Trump later intervening to defend Rubio saying he was doing a “great job.”
Trump’s social media post on Saturday night debunking the feud did not seem to have the intended effect. Hours later, the “Saturday Night Live” cold open featured James Austin Johnson as Trump brokering a truce between characters playing Musk and Rubio.
“What I don’t accept is Elon having total access to our government, planes are crashing and he keeps trying to fire air traffic controllers,” says Marcello Hernandez, playing Rubio.
“Well, Elon knows a lot about air travel, okay? He runs SpaceX, which is doing incredible things in terms of explosion,” responds Johnson as Trump. “So you two need to start acting like mature adults.”
Multiple news outlets reported that at Thursday’s Cabinet meeting, Trump told high-level officials that they are in charge of their agencies and departments, and not Musk.
Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy is a White House Correspondent for USA TODAY. You can follow her on X @SwapnaVenugopal
