Musk stars at Trump’s first cabinet meeting

WASHINGTON: Elon Musk starred at Donald Trump´s first cabinet meeting on Wednesday, with the US president insisting his team was “thrilled” with the extraordinary power given to his billionaire adviser despite reported tensions over his sweeping government cuts.

Trump asked tech tycoon Musk, who was wearing a black “Make America Great Again” baseball cap, to stand up and talk about the controversial programme of his so-called Department of Government Efficiency.

“If we don´t do this, America will go bankrupt,” the world´s richest man told cabinet members at the White House, adding that he was “taking a lot of flak, and getting a lot of death threats by the way.” The SpaceX and Tesla tycoon at one point said his job was “humble technical support” for Trump´s government -- before opening his overcoat to reveal a black t-shirt saying “Tech Support” in large white letters.

Dismissing US media reports that some cabinet members had expressed frustration over DOGE emails sent to all federal employees asking them to justify their jobs or be sacked, Musk said it was the “best cabinet ever” and thanked them for their “support”.

Republican Trump, 78, also turned to the top team gathered around a huge wooden table for the first meeting of his second term, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth.

“Is anybody unhappy with Elon? If they are we´ll throw them out of here,” Trump said, to laughter and applause from the cabinet members.

“Some disagree a little bit, but I will tell you for the most part I think everyone´s not only happy, they´re thrilled.”

The DOGE emails have caused confusion across Washington, with government departments on Monday largely telling told staff to either ignore them or downplayed the risks of not answering it.