Musk and Rubio Spar at Cabinet Meeting with Trump.

At a meeting of the US Cabinet in the White House, a series of sharp conflicts occurred between Elon Musk and high-ranking officials of the Trump administration, which forced the president to intervene and limit the billionaire's powers.

The New York Times reports this.

According to the publication, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy openly expressed discontent with Musk's aggressive approach to cutting federal employees. Rubio was outraged by Musk's interference in the work of the State Department, especially after the effective closure of the U.S. Agency for International Development.

'You're good on television,' Musk told Rubio, hinting that he was not managing other responsibilities. Duffy, for his part, accused Musk's team of trying to fire air traffic controllers during the aviation disaster crisis.

After lengthy disputes, Trump intervened, stating that from now on, the Cabinet would manage the reorganization process, while Musk's team would only perform an advisory function. According to the president, further cuts to federal employees would be made 'with a scalpel, not an axe.'

This incident was the first serious sign of Trump's willingness to limit Musk's influence, whose efforts to restructure the government have been the subject of several lawsuits and have raised concerns even among Republicans.

Despite the disagreements, Musk remains Trump's largest financial supporter - just this week, his political committee spent $1 million on advertising in support of the president.

How long the new agreement will last remains unclear. Musk, after the meeting, wrote on social media X that the meeting was 'very productive,' while during the meeting itself, according to witnesses, he looked much less inspired.