Anyone unhappy with Elon Musk? Trump defends Tesla boss who says he's receiving death threats

In a big display of his support to Elon Musk driving job cuts among federal workforce, US President Donald Trump asked in his Cabinet meeting if anyone was “unhappy” with the Tesla chief, adding that if anyone was, “throw them out of here,” prompting laughter among the Cabinet members. 

Donald Trump's remarks came when a reporter asked the US president if some in his Cabinet were dissatisfied with Elon Musk's role. Donald Trump said, “Some disagree a little bit, but I will tell you, for the most part, I think everyone's not only happy, they're thrilled.”

Elon Musk, who was present at the US Cabinet meeting donning a t-shirt that read “tech support” and a cap bearing Republican tagline “Make America Great Again”, said he was facing a lot of flak over his decisions of job cuts in federal departments.

The Tesla chief also revealed that he was getting a lot of death threats over the job he was doing that involved cutting down a lot of jobs.

“I'm taking a lot of flak and getting a lot of death threats, by the way. I can, like, stack them up,” Musk said.

Defending his decisions and explaining why jobs cuts of federal workers are important, Elon Musk said, “But if we don't do this, America will go bankrupt. That's why it has to be done.”

DOGE was doing lots of work to “fix the government computer systems,” he said.

THE ‘JUSTIFY YOUR JOBS’ EMAIL: WHAT ELON MUSK SAID

Over the weekend, Elon Musk blasted out an email telling federal employees to explain their work or risk losing their jobs.

When questioned about that email in the Cabinet meeting, Elon Musk said it was not a “performance review” but rather a “pulse check review.”

“We think there are a number of people on the government payroll who are dead. Which is probably why they can't respond. And some people who are not real people, like they're literally fictional individuals that are collecting paychecks,” he said.

“So we're literally trying to figure out, are these people real, are they alive and can they write an email?” Elon Musk said.