WASHINGTON, D.C.  — With thousands of federal workers already laid off, President Donald Trump said Thursday that he wants his Cabinet members to “keep good people” and does not want to “see a big cut where a lot of good people are cut.”

Trump, in meeting with his Cabinet members and other officials earlier in the day, also informed them that billionaire Elon Musk could guide departments on what to do but would not make staffing or policy decisions for the agencies, according to reporting by POLITICO.

Trump and Musk’s U.S. DOGE Service have taken on massive efforts to try to reduce federal government spending — leading to dizzying cuts across wide swaths of the federal workforce.

Those mass firings have prompted a slew of lawsuits filed in federal court and questions about the extent of Musk’s authority within the executive branch.

The president, speaking to reporters Thursday afternoon, said the Cabinet meeting focused on those massive reductions within the federal government.

Asked what Trump told Cabinet members Thursday regarding Musk and his authority to carry out actions, the president said they had “a great meeting” and clarified that “the people that aren’t doing a good job, that are unreliable, don’t show up to work, etcetera — those people can be cut.”

Musk’s role

Musk also, according to POLITICO, has reportedly admitted that DOGE has made some mistakes.

Trump, who told the press several times Thursday that he wants the Cabinet members to “keep good people,” said “we’re going to be watching them, and Elon and the group are going to be watching them, and if they can cut, it’s better, and if they don’t cut, then Elon will do the cutting.”

An ‘amazing’ job

The president also said he thinks Musk and the DOGE service have done “an amazing job.”

DOGE stands for Department of Government Efficiency, although the entity is not a Cabinet department and is temporary under a Trump executive order.

“We want to get rid of the people that aren’t working, that aren’t showing up and have a lot of problems, and so they’re working together with Elon, and I think we’re doing a really great job. We’re cutting it down. We have to, for the sake of our country,” Trump said.

Last updated 2:42 p.m., Mar. 6, 2025

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