A dispute between U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and billionaire White House adviser Elon Musk erupted during a Cabinet meeting on Thursday, according to The New York Times.

The confrontation, which unfolded while President Donald Trump observed the meeting, centered on the level of staff cuts carried out at the State Department.

The meeting was reportedly convened in response to complaints from agency heads and senior White House officials about the blunt-force approach employed by Musk’s operation to streamline the federal bureaucracy. Trump was said to have reminded Cabinet members that they, rather than Musk, have the final say on staffing and policy within their agencies.

According to the report, Musk accused Rubio of firing “nobody” and resisting his push for significant staff reductions. Rubio countered by noting that approximately 1,500 State Department employees had accepted early retirement buyouts. In a pointed remark, Rubio sarcastically questioned whether Musk wanted him to rehire all those employees only to fire them again.

The dispute comes amid ongoing debates over the best approach to reducing federal bureaucracy, with Musk assigned by Trump to implement large-scale staffing cuts. However, agency leaders and members of Congress have expressed concern over the potential impact of such measures, prompting the Cabinet meeting that led to the reported clash.

When asked about the incident on Friday, President Trump denied any clash. “No clash, I was there, you’re just a troublemaker,” he told a reporter. He added that both Rubio and Musk are doing a “fantastic job,” commending Rubio’s work as Secretary of State and praising Musk as “a unique guy.”

The incident highlights the growing tensions within the administration over how best to manage federal staffing and policy in the face of evolving political priorities.

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