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Trump and Musk Lead First Cabinet Meeting, Touting Gov’t Cuts, Dismantling of Federal Agencies

HeadlineFeb 27, 2025

President Trump touted his plans for more layoffs as he held his first Cabinet meeting Wednesday. Trump asked Elon Musk to address the meeting first, even though Musk is not a Cabinet member. Wearing a T-shirt that read “Tech Support,” Musk berated government workers who failed to respond to his email demanding an accounting of their recent work accomplishments. Meanwhile, Trump announced more plans to slash government agencies, including the EPA and the Education Department.

President Donald Trump: “I spoke with Lee Zeldin, and he thinks he’s going to be cutting 65 or so percent of the people from environmental. And we’re going to speed up the process, too, at the same time. You had a lot of people that weren’t doing their job — they were just obstructionists — and a lot of people that didn’t exist. I guess, Lee, too, he found a lot of empty spots at — the people weren’t there. They didn’t exist. And I think education is going to be one of those. You go around Washington, you see all these buildings for the Department of Education. We want to move education back to the states, where it belongs.”

In more EPA news, Administrator Lee Zeldin is calling for a repeal of the 2009 “endangerment finding,” which classifies greenhouse gases as a public health threat and allows for climate regulations.

At Wednesday’s Cabinet meeting, Trump also said he is planning a 25% tariff on goods from the European Union.

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