Trump tells Cabinet members they’re in charge of staffing as business leaders and Republicans complain about Musk

One week after Elon Musk held court before the cameras during President Donald Trump’s first Cabinet meeting, many of the Senate-confirmed leaders of government departments and agencies reconvened in the Cabinet Room on Thursday for a different kind of discussion.

One week after Elon Musk held court before the cameras during President Donald Trump’s first Cabinet meeting, many of the Senate-confirmed leaders of government departments and agencies reconvened in the Cabinet Room on Thursday for a different kind of discussion. During a nearly 90-minute meeting – this time, without any cameras – Trump delivered a clear message as Musk, one of the most influential members of his administration, sat nearby. The president told his agency heads that while Musk’s effort to slash the size and spending of the federal government has his full support, they are the ones, not Musk, who are in charge of staffing at their respective agencies. “Keep all the people you want, everybody that you need,” Trump told his Cabinet, as he recounted to reporters later in the Oval Office. “I want them to do the best job they can,” the president went on. “Where we have good people, that’s precious, that’s very important, and we want them to keep the good people.” The meeting on Thursday, which Trump said would be repeated every two weeks, was among the first examples of the president acting to rein in Musk’s broad powers. Instead of a proverbial chainsaw, which Musk held up during a high-profile appearance last month, Trump said the administration would be wielding a “scalpel” to make cuts going forward.