WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump held his first Cabinet meeting of his second administration Wednesday, where he supported Elon Musk and discussed issues central to his agenda.
Here are four key takeaways from the Cabinet meeting:
- Musk clarified intention of emails sent to federal workers
Although Musk is not in the Cabinet, President Trump made it clear he belonged.
“Is anybody unhappy with Elon?” Trump asked his Cabinet. “If you are, we’ll throw them out of here.”
Wearing a black “Make America Great Again” hat and a t-shirt that said “tech support,” Musk was the first invited to speak after Trump’s initial remarks and a prayer. During his remarks, Musk projected savings of $1 trillion through the Department of Government Efficiency.
Musk acknowledged that the flurry of actions had resulted in mistakes. He mentioned Ebola prevention efforts, which DOGE “accidentally canceled very briefly.”
“We will make mistakes,” said Musk. “We won’t be perfect, but when we make mistakes, we’ll fix it very quickly.”
Musk took credit for emails sent to hundreds of thousands of federal employees over the weekend, demanding they explain their work during the week in five bullet points or risk their employment.
Musk said that the emails were more of a “pulse check review” than a “performance review.”
“We think there are a number of people on the government payroll who are dead, which is probably why they can’t respond, and some people who are not real people,” said Musk.
Trump defended Musk’s emails, saying, “It’s possible that a lot of those people will be actually fired, and if that happened, that’s okay because that’s what we’re trying to do. This country has gotten bloated and fat and disgusting and incompetently run.”
- Plans for $5 million “gold cards” and economic strategy
Trump further detailed the strategy behind granting wealthy foreigners the right to live and work in the U.S. by charging $5 million for “gold cards.”
Unlike his first full Cabinet meeting during his first term, in June 2017, Trump did not invite Cabinet members to introduce themselves. He only called on Musk, Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to speak.
Trump asked Lutnick to discuss the gold card program, a revamped version of the EB-5 visa program, which requires substantial investments in the United States.
“Scott (Bessent) and I will design the EB-5 investment model because Scott and I are the best people together to do that,” said Lutnick.
- Russia-Ukraine war and NATO
Trump claimed he was making progress on a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine, saying that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy would visit Friday to sign an agreement.
He framed the conflict as a financial burden for the U.S. and inaccurately said former President Joseph Biden spent $350 billion on the war compared to $100 billion from Europe.
According to the Kiel Institute for the World Economy, the U.S. allocated less than half of this amount, providing $114.2 billion compared to $132.3 billion from Europe.
“I believe that, because we got elected, that war will come to an end. And I also believe if we didn’t get elected, if this administration didn’t win the election by a lot, that that war would go on for a long time, and he would want to take the whole thing,” Trump said.
- Afghanistan withdrawal and military plans
Trump criticized the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan under the Biden presidency, and suggested he would fire generals who were involved.
Hegseth said he would conduct a full review of the withdrawal and everyone involved.
“I think they’re going to be largely gone,” said Trump.
