Top Republicans Echo Trump's New Musk Messaging: He's Their ‘partner,’ Not Their Boss

Two senior Republicans are reiterating President Donald Trump’s recent messaging about Elon Musk’s realm of control, insisting that the Department of Government Efficiency initiative cannot overstep Cabinet officials’ authority and fire federal employees.

“Elon Musk does not have the power to fire people,” Republican Florida Sen. Rick Scott said on CNN’s “State of the Union” to anchor Jake Tapper on Sunday. “The president of the United States is Donald Trump, and the agency heads are the ones who manage each of their departments.”

Scott’s comments follow a contentious Cabinet meeting where administration officials expressed frustration with Musk’s attempts to override staffing and policy decisions within their agencies. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and Musk reportedly sparred over DOGE employees trying to lay off traffic controllers. Duffy later called the meeting “productive” in a post to X on Friday, but hinted toward his larger disapproval of Musk’s mission to bulldoze the federal bureaucracy.

“The President's approach of a scalpel versus a hatchet and better coordination between Secretaries and DOGE is the right approach to revolutionizing the way our government is run,” Duffy added.

Trump told his Cabinet officials during the meeting that Musk is not permitted to issue any decisions on staffing and policy — the president’s first significant move to rein in Musk’s authority. Trump said that DOGE is supposed to play an advisory role to agencies and that Cabinet officials make final decisions on staffing and policies and their implementation.

Scott isn’t the only GOP official echoing Trump’s new messaging about Musk’s mandate. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick expressed gratitude for DOGE’s work in a Sunday interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press” with Kristen Welker. But when asked by Welker whether it is he or Musk who runs his agency, Lutnick referred to Musk as his “partner.”

“Elon Musk is your partner,” he said. “He's your partner in technology, he's your partner in thought, he's your partner in doing. What President Trump made clear, is that Elon is your partner. That is what we like.”

Scott, who said he speaks with Musk regularly and is a prominent supporter of Musk's efforts, brought Musk to a meeting with other Senate Republicans last week to ease growing concerns about DOGE’s methods in trying to identify fraud and waste within government spending. When pushed by Tapper about Duffy’s concerns with DOGE’s approach, Scott didn’t waver in his support for Musk’s mandate.

“You do your best every day,” Scott said. “What they're trying to do is rein in government, right? Are they going to be perfect? No one is perfect. When they make a mistake, are they going to fix it? Yeah.”

Trump’s new guidance for DOGE comes on the heels of mass layoffs and threats to eliminate hundreds of government agencies initiated by Musk, which have sparked anxiety and fear among the federal workforce. Despite the controversy DOGE has drawn, Lutnick said Cabinet officials are unified on working with Musk to curb government spending.

“You have the best technologist and richest guy in the world saying ‘I’ll help you,’ come on, we want his help,” Lutnick said.