President Donald Trump used his first Cabinet meeting of the year to try to project unity, despite reports of multiple cracks emerging within his team.
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem was the object of interest during the more than an hourlong meeting as her leadership of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection comes under scrutiny after two fatal shootings of anti-immigration law enforcement protesters this month in Minnesota.
However, Minnesota was only raised in one instance, and not in any way that referenced the news stories that have dominated national headlines for the past week. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. mentioned the state, in tandem with California, as part of the administration’s efforts to tackle Medicare and Medicaid fraud cases, while Noem herself remained silent.
Here’s what you need to know from Thursday’s event.
Trump skips questions
In a break from the norm, Trump closed the Cabinet meeting without taking questions from reporters after listening to officials’ presentations for more than an hour.
“Mr. President, why not take questions?” one reporter asked as White House aides tried to usher members of the news media from the room.
The decision was the second break from Trump’s traditional approach to Cabinet meetings, with the president this time hand-picking which Cabinet secretary or official would speak instead of going around the table and calling on each Cabinet member in turn.
“The last time we had a press conference, it lasted for three hours, and some people said, ‘He closed his eyes,’’ he said. “Look, it got pretty boring. I love these people, but there’s a lot of people. It was a little bit [on] the boring side, but I didn’t sleep. I just closed them because I wanted to get the hell out of here.”
Who did, and didn’t, speak?
Noem was the most notable omission from the speaking line-up after Trump deployed border czar Tom Homan to Minneapolis on Monday to replace Border Patrol commander in chief Greg Bovino following last weekend’s death of Alex Pretti.
Similarly, Attorney General Pam Bondi and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy did not speak amid reports that Trump is also unhappy with them, for different reasons, nor did Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer, who is under an ethical investigation.
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, who is reportedly on the outs because of her perceived opposition to Trump’s foreign policy decisions in Venezuela and Iran, was not even in the room, dispatched instead to Georgia.
Other Cabinet officials on the non-speakers list included Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, Education Secretary Linda McMahon, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, U.S. Trade representative Jamieson Greer, and White House Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought.
Those who did speak included Kennedy, War Secretary Pete Hegseth, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, Energy Secretary Chris Wright, Small Business Administration Administrator Kelly Loeffler, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Scott Turner, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin, and Special Missions Envoy Steve Witkoff.
Biggest laughs
Trump, always an entertainer, had Rubio and Hegseth laughing when he mentioned social media fodder based on photographs purportedly capturing him sleeping during past Cabinet meetings.
Trump also got a rise out of the room while introducing Kennedy, whose Make America Healthy Again following could help Republicans perform better in this November’s elections.
“I read an article today where they think Bobby is going to be really great for the Republican Party in the midterms, so I have to be very careful that Bobby likes us,” he said.
Trump, in addition, shared more about his so-far anonymous friend who is taking Ozempic, describing him as a “very successful,” but “seriously overweight person.”
“He’s a crude individual, but smart as hell, made a lot of money,” he said. “He got the shot, you know, Ozempic, I think, or whatever. And I told him it wasn’t working.”
Vice President JD Vance earned a few chuckles of his own as well. When the president presented him an opportunity to speak, he politely declined and quipped that he was “only” present for the coffee.
Who was the biggest sycophant?
Trump’s Cabinet meetings frequently see the department heads heap praise on the president. Thursday’s affair was no different, with Bessent on Thursday promising that 2026 is “going to be the year for the Trump boom.”
“We’ve got gains in wages, low prices,” the secretary said. “It’s going to be a supply-side boom.”
Hegseth added that Trump’s capture of former Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro was “the most sophisticated raid in world history.”
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Wright went on to say, “with confidence,” that “hundreds of American lives have been saved” because Trump has leaned in and reversed former President Joe Biden’s killing of coal and revitalizing coal, while Loeffler told Trump that he “ended at least eight wars,” including “Biden and the Democrats’ war” on hard-working families.
Lutnick may have been the most toadying, telling the president, “You are fixing everything with your policies. You have changed America and created the golden age.”