Elon Musk leaves everyone baffled with message on notepad (2025)

Elon Musk took part in the cabinet meeting (Image: Getty)

A handwritten message on a notepad spotted in front of Elon Musk during a televised Trump administration Cabinet meeting has left people baffled. Images posted on social media show the Tesla co-founder sitting around a table with senior members of US President Donald Trump's Cabinet with the cryptic scribbling "top secret" in full view before him and the cameras.

It could be seen as a public riposte from the tech billionaire after a New York Times report published in March claimed Mr Musk was going to be briefed on "top secret" military plans drawn up in the event of a war between the US and China. According to the publication's report, the briefing was to include 20 to 30 slides explaining how the US would fight a war with China. The Times cited two US officials it didn't identify. Mr Trump dismissed the report. It raised conflict of interest questions, as Mr Musk has interests in China and with the Pentagon through some of his businesses.

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Elon Musk told Donald Trump DOGE had found savings of $150bn (Image: Getty)

The White House has said before that Mr Musk would recuse himself if any conflicts of interest were to arise because of his business interests and role in spearheading efforts to cut US federal government spending.

Alternatively, the "top secret" note may have been in reference to the announcement Mr Musk made during the Cabinet meeting.

He claimed the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) had anticipated government savings of $150billion (£115.5bn) in the next fiscal year after clamping down on "waste" and "fraud".

Mr Musk claimed some of the savings would come from "absurd" things such as people who hadn't even been born receiving unemployment insurance.

In a message to US citizens, he said: "We’re going to be spending their tax dollars in a way that is fair and sensible and good."

But the amount is much lower than his previous target of cutting $1trillion (£770.6bn) — a figure he used last month during a Fox News interview.

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Elon Musk has said his job with the Trump administration will likely end soon (Image: Getty)

Both Mr Musk and Mr Trump have said the entrepreneur would likely end his job with the administration in the near future.

Mr Musk was a major donor to Mr Trump's presidential election campaign and has been his close ally. However, tensions between the billionaire and members of the Trump administration have surfaced in recent days.

Two days ago, the White House said "boys will be boys" after Mr Musk called one of Mr Trump's top economic advisors a "moron".

The Tesla co-founder and trade adviser Peter Navarro squabbled publicly over Mr Trump's decision to impose sweeping tariffs on most of the United States' trading partners. Mr Trump has since rowed back on the levies for most countries, except China.

Mr Navarro on Monday had dismissed a push from Mr Musk for "zero tariffs" between the US and Europe, calling him a "car assembler" who was reliant on imported parts.