Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) said Sunday that Elon Musk, the public face of the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, does not have the authority to fire government employees.
“Elon Musk does not have the power to fire people. The president of the United States is Donald Trump, and the agency heads are the ones who manage each of their departments, so they’ve got the — they’ve got the decision. That’s what Elon Musk has told me time and time again,” Scott said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
Scott’s statement comes after Musk reportedly clashed with top Cabinet officials, namely Secretary of State Marco Rubio, during a meeting about the legal challenges in regard to the tech billionaire’s ordered layoffs and the impact of his slashing of federal agencies.
Through DOGE, an entity created by Trump, Musk has overseen cuts of thousands of federal government employees since January, leading to chaos in the workforce and concerns from congressional Republicans.
During the cantankerous gathering Thursday, Trump told his Cabinet secretaries they should make staffing cuts first, not Musk and DOGE.
On Saturday, Trump denied there was any tension between Musk and Rubio.
“ELON AND MARCO HAVE A GREAT RELATIONSHIP,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform. “ANY STATEMENT OTHER THAN THAT IS FAKE NEWS!!! DJT.”
Elsewhere in the interview with Scott, host Jake Tapper questioned whether the senator is “confident” Musk’s cuts “have been strategic, have been wise, have been careful.”
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“You do your best you can every day,” Scott told Tapper. “What they’re trying to do is rein in government, right? Every day. Are [Trump and Musk] going to be perfect? No. No one is perfect. When they make a mistake, are they going to fix it? Yeah.”
Watch a clip from Scott’s appearance on “State of the Union” below.