21 hours ago
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Trump holds first cabinet meeting of second term, focuses on DOGE, Ukraine
President Donald Trump held his first cabinet meeting Wednesday, focusing on cost-cutting measures and the Russia-Ukraine conflict.Elon Musk, billionaire and senior adviser to the president, also attended the meeting, despite not holding a Cabinet-level position, amid the Department of Government Efficiencies' efforts to shrink the size of the federal government. "One of the most important initiatives is DOGE, and we have cut billions and billions and billions of dollars. We're looking to get it maybe to a trillion dollars if we can do that," Trump said.Musk, who's overseeing the effort, addressed the disruption DOGE is causing, pointing to DOGE accidentally canceling and then restoring Ebola prevention at the U.S. Agency for International Development."We will make mistakes. We won't be perfect, but when we make mistake, we'll fix it very quickly," Musk said.The White House says Musk is working with Cabinet secretaries and their staff every day."We have a DOGE task force where we work very closely with DOGE and the employees and the team members at HUD," said Scott Turner, secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development."They have been able to offer up recommendations for our consideration for whether or not I want to then cancel. We have canceled -- I've canceled about 30 grants so far," said Lee Zeldin, Environmental Protection Agency administrator.In the wide-ranging meeting, Trump also talked about the Russia-Ukraine war. He said his top priority is to end the conflict, and he also doesn't want the U.S. to pay any more money, announcing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will visit the White House on Friday to sign a rare earth minerals deal."Now we're going to be getting all of that money back plus a lot more, and we provided a great thing, we provided something very important, and we'll be working with Ukraine, and because we'll be taking that. We're going to be taking what we're entitled to take," Trump said.Trump added that the U.S. is not making security guarantees "beyond very much," despite a push from Zelenskyy. He says Europe will do that.Trump said Ukraine could "forget about joining NATO" and vowed Russia would make concessions, too.
President Donald Trump held his first cabinet meeting Wednesday, focusing on cost-cutting measures and the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
Elon Musk, billionaire and senior adviser to the president, also attended the meeting, despite not holding a Cabinet-level position, amid the Department of Government Efficiencies' efforts to shrink the size of the federal government.
"One of the most important initiatives is DOGE, and we have cut billions and billions and billions of dollars. We're looking to get it maybe to a trillion dollars if we can do that," Trump said.
Musk, who's overseeing the effort, addressed the disruption DOGE is causing, pointing to DOGE accidentally canceling and then restoring Ebola prevention at the U.S. Agency for International Development.
"We will make mistakes. We won't be perfect, but when we make mistake, we'll fix it very quickly," Musk said.
The White House says Musk is working with Cabinet secretaries and their staff every day.
"We have a DOGE task force where we work very closely with DOGE and the employees and the team members at HUD," said Scott Turner, secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
"They have been able to offer up recommendations for our consideration for whether or not I want to then cancel. We have canceled -- I've canceled about 30 grants so far," said Lee Zeldin, Environmental Protection Agency administrator.
In the wide-ranging meeting, Trump also talked about the Russia-Ukraine war. He said his top priority is to end the conflict, and he also doesn't want the U.S. to pay any more money, announcing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will visit the White House on Friday to sign a rare earth minerals deal.
"Now we're going to be getting all of that money back plus a lot more, and we provided a great thing, we provided something very important, and we'll be working with Ukraine, and because we'll be taking that. We're going to be taking what we're entitled to take," Trump said.
Trump added that the U.S. is not making security guarantees "beyond very much," despite a push from Zelenskyy. He says Europe will do that.
Trump said Ukraine could "forget about joining NATO" and vowed Russia would make concessions, too.
English (US)