President Donald Trump had “very little” to say during an explosive Oval Office meeting Wednesday, instead choosing to watch the sparring match unfold between DOGE head Elon Musk and Secretary of State Marco Rubio “like it was some kind of sporting event.”
That’s according to the New York Times’ Maggie Haberman, who revealed new details about the hastily assembled meeting that resulted in the tech billionaire clashing with Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, who “had a pretty contentious back and forth with Musk.”
“And then came Rubio, and that was the tensest exchange,” Haberman said Friday on CNN. Rubio, she added, has spent weeks privately complaining about how disruptive Musk's shakeup of the federal government has been to his department.
The Times’ journalist, who has covered Trump extensively for years, reported that the meeting came together Wednesday amid growing outrage at town halls nationwide and concern from lawmakers on Capitol Hill over mass DOGE-inspired firings and cuts throughout the federal government.
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Musk began the meeting Wednesday night by pointing out “that he owns or has three companies that have a market cap of tens of billions of dollars, and that his results speak for themselves,” Haberman said.
“And that sort of set the tone for what he sees the government as, and the contrast with how cabinet secretaries who have to manage the workforce can operate,” she added.
Haberman brushed off Trump’s claims that there was no such conflict between his top campaign donor – turned DOGE leader – and his cabinet officials.
“There was a clash, and he was there, so he knows it,” Haberman said flatly. “There were a couple of clashes, maybe not as many as there might have been had Musk not been so sharp with Rubio in particular, but also Duffy.”
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