WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump cheered his administration's full-force campaign, led by billionaire Elon Musk, to slash the size and spending of the federal government as he convened his top officials at the White House on Wednesday for the first Cabinet meeting of his second term. 

What You Need To Know

  • President Donald Trump convened his top officials at the White House on Wednesday for the first Cabinet meeting of his second term
  • At the meeting, he cheered his administration's full-force campaign, led by billionaire Elon Musk, to slash the size and spending of the federal government
  • Trump said he wants his government cost-cutting initiative – which has been branded as the U.S. DOGE Service and has already led to mass layoffs across the federal workforce and apparent efforts to shutter certain agencies almost entirely – to lead to a balanced federal budget within a “reasonably short period of time"
  • As part of that effort, he also reiterated his desire to dismantle the Education Department, sending its duties back to individual states and announced that the Environmental Protection Agency plans to cut about 65% of its workforce
  • Trump also used the meeting to tout a decrease in illegal border crossings since his return and said he has “unleashed American energy”
  • He said his administration is “fighting every day to get prices down,” calling the cost of eggs in particular “a disaster"
  • He also spoke about his newly-unveiled plan for a "gold card," his efforts to end the war in Ukraine and the European Union, which he claimed was created to "screw the United States"

Seated in the White House’s Cabinet Room alongside Vice President JD Vance, the heads of his departments and agencies and Musk, Trump said he wants his government cost-cutting initiative – led by what is known as the U.S. DOGE Service and that has already led to mass layoffs across the federal workforce and apparent efforts to shutter certain agencies almost entirely – to lead to a balanced federal budget within a “reasonably short period of time.”

That could be as early as next year or the year after, Trump claimed.

As part of that effort, he also reiterated his desire to dismantle the Education Department, sending its duties back to individual states and announced that the Environmental Protection Agency plans to cut about 65% of its workforce. 

Musk, who Trump noted he was inviting to speak first, before other officials, declared that “America will go bankrupt” without the efforts of DOGE and its mission to find a trillion in savings within the federal government. 

The billionaire owner of the social media platform X and SpaceX CEO’s presence in the room was particularly notable given the swarm of questions surrounding his official role in the administration after a court filing referred to him as an advisor to the president and not the technical leader of DOGE. Facing consistent inquiries on the matter, the White House on Tuesday said Amy Gleason was the initiative’s official acting administrator. 

Musk on Wednesday referred to himself as “a humble tech support.”

The president asserted that the department heads seated around the table were “very much behind” a DOGE-driven email that went out to federal employees over the weekend asking them to list five things they did in their job over the last week – despite some of Trump’s top officials like FBI Director Kash Patel directing their employees not to respond.

“We want to make sure that the people are working so letters were sent out, and I think everyone at this table is very much behind it,” Trump said. “And if they aren't, I'd want them to speak up, but they're very much behind it.”

Trump went on to say that those who did not respond (the White House on Tuesday said about one million federal employees had submitted a response) were “on the bubble,” appearing to insinuate they could be fired. 

Musk called the effort a “pulse check,” eliciting laughs from the room. He added that the email was spurred from the president – via a post on his social media site Truth Social and a phone call – to be more aggressive.

“I do what the president asks so, I said, ‘Can we send out an email to everyone, just saying, what did you get done last week,’” Musk said. “The president said, ‘yes,’ so we did that.” 

Just shy of six full weeks into his second White House stint, Trump also used the meeting to tout a decrease in illegal border crossings since his return and claimed he has “unleashed American energy.” He said his administration is “fighting every day to get prices down,” calling the cost of eggs in particular “a disaster.” 

The president noted that Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins would be showing those present a chart hours after outlining a plan to bring down egg prices in a Wall Street Journal piece.

The president touched on his newly-unveiled plan to sell what he is calling a “gold card” to work in the U.S. and the possibility of citizenship in place of the EB5 visa program. He predicted the card, coming in at $5 million, would “sell like crazy,” adding they would create jobs at home and could be available in about two weeks. 

On the foreign policy front, the president confirmed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelesnkyy is expected at the White House on Friday to sign an agreement with the U.S. on critical minerals as Trump pushes for a swift end to the three-year-old war in the country. Trump said he would not be giving security guarantees to Ukraine “beyond very much,” calling on European nations to do so instead.

The president added Russian President Vladimir Putin will have to make concessions as part of the effort to end the war as well, although he did not expand on what those might be. 

Trump added that his proposed tariffs on goods from Canada and Mexico – the start of which was pushed back earlier this month after the countries offered to implement changes to address immigration and fentanyl – is on track to take effect on April 2. He teased that he plans to announce tariffs on the European Union soon, asserting that the coalition of countries was only created to “screw the United States.”

“Let's be honest, the European Union was formed in order to screw the United States. That's the purpose of it,” Trump asserted. “And they've done a good job of it. But now I'm president.”

Also on Wednesday, a planned meeting in Washington between European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who was seated next to Trump at the Cabinet meeting, was abruptly canceled.