Two senior Republicans bolstered US President Donald Trump’s current stance on Elon Musk’s affect, emphasising that the Division of Authorities Effectivity can not override Cupboard officers or dismiss federal workers, stating that, “he’s a accomplice and has no energy to fireplace folks.”
“Elon Musk doesn’t have the ability to fireplace folks,” Republican Senator Rick Scott of Florida mentioned Sunday in an interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper. “The president of the USA is Donald Trump, and the company heads are those who handle every of their departments,” he added.
Scott’s remarks adopted a tense Cupboard assembly the place administration officers voiced considerations about Musk’s interference in staffing and coverage choices inside their businesses.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy subsequently described the assembly as “productive” in a publish to X on Friday, while indicating his broader considerations about Musk’s agenda to restructure federal paperwork.
“The President’s strategy of a scalpel versus a hatchet and higher coordination between Secretaries and DOGE is the correct strategy to revolutionizing the way in which our authorities is run,” Duffy mentioned, Politico reported.
Throughout the assembly, Trump instructed his Cupboard officers that Musk lacks authority to make staffing and coverage choices—marking Trump’s first vital limitation on Musk’s authority. Trump clarified that DOGE’s function is advisory, with Cupboard officers retaining ultimate authority over staffing, insurance policies and implementation.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, one other GOP official, acknowledged DOGE’s contributions throughout a Sunday interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press” with Kristen Welker. When questioned about company management, Lutnick characterised Musk as his “accomplice.”
“Elon Musk is your accomplice,” he mentioned. “He’s your accomplice in know-how, he’s your accomplice in thought, he’s your accomplice in doing. What President Trump made clear, is that Elon is your accomplice. That’s what we like,” he added.
Trump’s revised pointers for DOGE observe Musk’s initiatives for in depth redundancies and proposals to eradicate quite a few authorities businesses, inflicting misery amongst federal workers.
Regardless of DOGE’s controversial actions, Lutnick indicated Cupboard officers stay united in collaborating with Musk to scale back authorities expenditure. “You may have the perfect technologist and richest man on the planet saying ‘I’ll make it easier to,’ come on, we wish his assist,” Lutnick concluded.
