Trump pushes detente between Musk and Rubio

Elon Musk and Secretary of State Marco Rubio sought to project unity Monday, following a private clash at a recent Cabinet meeting, with President Trump seeking to play mediator.

Trump brought the two men together for dinner at Mar-a-Lago on Saturday, one day after it was reported Musk and Rubio had an explosive confrontation over Musk’s efforts to slash the size of the government. Trump has been eager to downplay any kind of infighting among top aides reminiscent of his first term.

Sources said Trump made clear his desire for the two men to work more cohesively when he spoke after the Cabinet meeting about allowing agency leaders to talk more of a leading role in determining staffing and spending cuts. Those comments, sources said, showed Trump was responding to the political and legal pressure around Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), and to some internal frustration from his Cabinet picks.

“I think the key thing here is you saw a shift in how the president deals with Elon, when he talks about a scalpel instead of a hatchet,” said one Trump ally who is close to the White House. “There was really some consternation of, ‘If I’m in charge of an agency, why am I not making these decisions?’”

Rubio on Monday announced he was officially canceling roughly 83 percent of contracts through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), crediting DOGE for helping to facilitate the steep cuts.

The announcement was seen as an olive branch from Rubio to Musk, whose aggressive efforts to get into all corners of the federal government have rankled the secretary of State and other Cabinet officials.

“Tough, but necessary. Good working with you,” Musk responded to news of the USAID cuts.

Musk, in a rare television interview, told Fox Business Network’s Larry Kudlow on Monday that DOGE works “in consultation with the Cabinet secretaries and with the departments.” He did not directly address his disagreements with Rubio.

The detente came after a fiery Cabinet meeting on Thursday, with Rubio and Musk at the center of the tensions. 

After Musk confronted Rubio, accusing him of not adequately reducing the size of the State Department, Rubio hit back, pointing to hundreds of officials who took buyouts and to broader efforts to reorganize the department. The New York Times first reported on the details of the clash.

Rubio was not the only Cabinet official to take issue with Musk’s steadily growing influence over their respective agencies, but he was the most prominent. The White House in a statement did not deny the tensions at the meeting but said Trump officials were “working as one team” to carry out the president’s agenda.

Some argued that tensions among top-level officials in a White House would not be a new phenomenon.

“For those who’ve worked in the White House, they will tell you that you always have that natural kind of back-and-forth between Cabinet officials and the White House,” said Matt Terrill, who served as chief of staff during Rubio’s 2016 presidential campaign.

“Obviously, Elon Musk has been put in place to do certain cuts for DOGE,” he added. “They had a grown-up discussion, a mature discussion as adults do about the realities of what they want to accomplish.”

Sources close to the White House told The Hill that Trump is cognizant that his critics and political opponents would seize on any perceived cracks within his administration, and he moved quickly to squash any lingering squabbles between two of his most high profile officials.

“Elon and Marco have a great relationship. Any statement other than that is fake news!!!” Trump posted in all capital letters on Truth Social on Saturday.

That same night, the three men had dinner at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate. Other guests stopped by the table, including Fox News host Sean Hannity and his fiancée, “Fox & Friends” co-host Ainsley Earhardt. 

The president acknowledged to reporters Sunday that there would be occasional arguments among Musk and other top officials, but he shrugged off the idea that there were lingering resentments.

“I don’t think the tensions are high,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One. “Look, Elon's a very special person, and these Cabinet people are special people. You know, these are very successful people.”

“That doesn't mean they don't have a little bit of an argument here and there about something, or maybe personnel arguments,” he added.

Trump is likely to be ultraaware of any personnel fights during his second term that take attention away from him or his broader agenda. His first term was frequently defined by clashes with and among high-level staff. 

Trump feuded with former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. Former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon clashed with other officials. Former chief of staff John Kelly famously did not get along with senior adviser Jared Kushner. And Trump cycled through Cabinet officials across agencies at a rapid clip.

The president appears determined to avoid similar churn this time around, even as Musk represents a wild card with a massive megaphone who can rock the boat on a moment’s notice.

The New York Times reported Trump sough to mediate a separate dispute involving Musk and Bannon that had erupted in the early weeks of his presidency, including by suggesting the two men sit down privately.

“[Trump] understands far better how to keep the team moving in the same direction,” the Trump ally said. “He’s still going to allow some clashes, because that’s the way Trump works, but he's not going to allow some of the bloodletting and squabbles that occurred the first time.”