Trump slashes powers of Musk and DOGE in unexpected Cabinet meeting: Live updates

The move, confirmed to Reuters by the official and three other sources, potentially leaves the refugees open to being swiftly deported back home amid the ongoing war.

According to the outlet, the revocations could begin as early as April and come in stark contrast to the welcome to those escaping the conflict that was rolled out by the Biden administration.

In a post on Truth Social, President Donald Trump confirmed reports that he abruptly called a Cabinet meeting to clarify the role of Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency in relation to the actual appointed heads of federal government departments.

The Golden Age of America has just begun! Over the past six weeks, our Administration has delivered on promises like no Administration before it, always putting America First! DOGE has been an incredible success, and now that we have my Cabinet in place, I have instructed the Secretaries and Leadership to work with DOGE on Cost Cutting measures and Staffing. As the Secretaries learn about, and understand, the people working for the various Departments, they can be very precise as to who will remain, and who will go. We say the “scalpel” rather than the “hatchet.” The combination of them, Elon, DOGE, and other great people will be able to do things at a historic level.

We just had a meeting with most of the Secretaries, Elon, and others, and it was a very positive one. It’s very important that we cut levels down to where they should be, but it’s also important to keep the best and most productive people. We’re going to have these meetings every two weeks until that aspect of this very necessary job is done. The relationships between everybody in that room are extraordinary. They all want to get to the exact same place, which is, simply, to MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!

CNN’s Boris Sanchez challenged Republican Rep. Brandon Gill about the supposed transparency of Elon Musk and the work of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

Gill contended: “Musk has been very public about what he’s doing. He posts about it on his X feed almost every single day.”

Sanchez responded: “I do wonder about some of what has been posted because a lot of it has been proven to be completely inaccurate. This wall of receipts that Doge has on its website has been riddled with errors, many of which they’ve corrected themselves, confusing billions with millions, triple counting contracts that they’ve eliminated. They’ve taken credit for ending programs that were ended in November when Joe Biden was president, even going back as far as 2005 when George W Bush was president. So it goes back to the question of transparency. You’re arguing that Musk is being transparent, but a lot of what’s come out is wrong or false.

Politico reports that President Donald Trump convened his Cabinet in person today to make something clear to those present — that they are each in charge of their departments, not Elon Musk.

Two administration officials told the outlet that Trump clarified to top members of his administration that Musk was empowered to make recommendations to the departments but not to issue unilateral decisions on staffing and policy.

Mass firings enacted by DOGE have faced numerous court challenges and thrown much of the federal government into a state of uncertainty.

The president’s message represents the first significant move to narrow Musk’s mandate. According to Trump’s new guidance, DOGE and its staff should play an advisory role — but Cabinet secretaries should make final decisions on personnel, policy and the pacing of implementation.

Musk joined the conversation and indicated he was on board with Trump’s directive. According to one person familiar with the meeting, Musk acknowledged that DOGE had made some missteps — a message he shared earlier this week with members of Congress.

Hunter Biden has revealed his dire financial situation following a slump in book and art sales.

The former president’s son said his “dwindling financial resources” have led him to instruct attorneys to request a judge dismiss a lawsuit around the publication of contents of his laptop that was pursuing against a former Donald Trump aide. Hunter added that he can no longer afford to proceed with litigation.

Biden said that his debt was “in the millions of dollars range” and his income has “decreased significantly” since late 2023, according to documents filed in federal court in California urging district judge Hernan D. Vera to dismiss the suit against Garrett Ziegler, who published the contents of his laptop in 2020.

On Wednesday, DOGE workers and ​​Pete Marocco, director of the Office of Foreign Assistance at the State Department, arrived at the U.S. African Development Foundation headquarters in Washington, D.C., to get access and fire employees, according to the Washington Post. The roughly 50-person agency refused to let them inside

Kelly Rissman has the story.

The International Monetary Fund stated on Thursday that if sustained, U.S. tariffs imposed on Mexico and Canada will have a significant negative impact on those countries due to their strong integration with the U.S. economy.

IMF spokesperson Julie Kozack the IMF would issue a more comprehensive assessment of the impact of the shift in U.S. trade policy on the global economy, as well as the countries most affected by it, when it releases an updated economic outlook in April during the spring meetings of the IMF and World Bank in Washington.

Kozack, in the IMF’s first substantive remarks on recent U.S. trade actions, highlighted the potential effects on Canada and Mexico and stated that it would be essential to determine whether the uncertainty in global markets is temporary or ongoing.

Historically, she said, “sustained periods of elevated uncertainty can be associated with both households and firms holding back on consumption and investment decisions.”

With reporting from Reuters