Secretary of State Marco Rubio was furious when he had to listen to the litany of attacks from Elon Musk, he finally accused the billionaire of a lie – so the backstage of quarrels during the Thursday meeting of the Donald Trump's office describes the “New York Times”. The American president was to watch this passively for a long time, “as if he was watching a tennis match”. In the end, however, he intervened. The sharp exchange of sentences concerned the reduction of staff at government agencies, which is the richest man in the world.
The president convened a meeting of the office after a series of decisions on mass dismissals of employees of many government institutions. These decisions met with protests, lawsuits and criticism of the Democratic and Sometimes even Republican party.
At the same time – wrote the British daily “Guardian” – in private conversations with the leading Musk politicians, a billionaire set by Trump at the head of the Department of State Performance (Doge), responsible for reducing expenses, argued that the final decisions regarding exemptions are made by individual federal agencies.
“Furious” Rubio and an agency that became a bone of disagreement
Details of the Thursday meeting of administration members are described by “The New York Times”.
The tense exchange of sentences took place between Musk and the Secretary of State Marco Rubio. “NYT” writes that Rubio was “angry” as a billionaire. “Here, he sits next to the president in the office of the office of the office in the White House and listens to the litany of attacks from the richest man in the world,” writes “NYT”. Musk was to call Rubio into a board for not reducing full -time jobs in federal agencies.
Elon Musk and Steve Bannon at the CPAC conferenceFacts TVN / Enex
The New York daily writes that Rubio's rage for Musk has been going on for several weeks since the billionaire team de facto paralyzed the work of the United States Agency for international development. It is the dispute about the activity of this agency that remains the bone of disagreement. USAID is the largest state aid institution in the world, whose work after Trump's coming to power has been very difficult.
As the concrete24 writes in his analysis, it is Musk who conducts the liquidation campaign of the Agency, accusing her of the waste of the money of American taxpayers. He also publishes on the website X posts discrediting USAID, describing this agency as “a radically left -wing globalists' arm” or claiming that “he is pushing regulations regarding censorship in Europe.”
Read also in Zasta24: USAID paid four million dollars for the title of Man of the Year for Zelanski? We warn against this message
Rubio “threw his regrets”, Trump sat “like at a tennis match”
Rubio, however, did not remain passive on Musk's allegations and – as “NYT” describes – “he threw his regrets.”
– He doesn't tell the truth. And what about over 1,500 officials of the State Department who switched to earlier pension as part of the briefings? Doesn't this fall into the layoffs? – he said in response to the billionaire's words. He also asked sarcastically if Musk wants him to employ all these people again, only to be able to demonstrate their release. Then he presented detailed plans for the reorganization of the State Department.
“Musk was not impressed. He replied Rubio that they were 'good on television' with a clear overtones, that the Secretary of State is not suitable for anything else. Throughout this time the president sat in a chair, with crossed arms, as if watching a tennis match” – describes the course of the meeting “New York Times”.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio during a meeting in the White House with Wołodymyr ZelanskiPAP/EPA/JIM LO SCALZO/POOL
Trump's intervention
In the end, however, Trump intervened, putting himself in Rubio and saying that he did a “great job”. “He is very busy, still travels and performs on television, and also has a management agency. So everyone just has to cooperate” – cites his statement “NYT”.
At the same time, the White House host said that Musk has the right to give resorts recommendations regarding employment reduction, but not to make decisions independently.
“NYT” comments that the Thursday meeting was “a potential turning point after the fever first weeks of Trump's second term” and gave the first significant signal that Trump was willing to limit certain Musk's actions that met with criticism.
According to Politico, Trump's cause was the fears of the Republican Party's politicians to take over power over federal agencies. The billionaire was not chosen or approved by the Congress.
Numerous court lawsuits related to the dog
The president's statement may also play a role before the courts examining the lawsuits related to the reduction of staff – the government argues that Musk does not hold a decision -making position. In the documents provided to the court, the government maintains that the billionaire “does not have much power than other advisers of the White House”, so he can only advise the president and “transfer his directives”. The government denied that Musk was formally an employee or administrator of the dog (at the same time the authorities could not say for a long time who actually performs this function).
Numerous court lawsuits related to DOGE relate to both Musk's access to sensitive data and the scope of his power. On Wednesday, Politico emphasized, another lawsuit was filed, in which it is alleged that Musk had “contradictory, uncontrolled federal government”.
The position that the final personal and substantive decisions are made not by Musk, but the formal authorities of government agencies and institutions may help protect Trump's administration from losing in the courts – Politico noted.
Source of the main photo: PAP/EPA/BONNIE CASH/POOL