Elon Musk has claimed he has received so many death threats that he could "stack em' up" in a rambling statement at 's first cabinet meeting.

The billionaire and CEO was asked to stand up during the major meeting this afternoon, the first which has seen all of controversial department heads gathered in one place. He appeared to have been sidelined and was stood in the corner next to the table Mr Trump was sat on with his Cabinet, and was asked to present his progress with the so-called Department for Government Efficiency (DOGE).

Mr Musk, who claims to have slashed more than $50 billion (£39.3 billion) in federal government expenditure, was left standing in the corner as the President gave him a lengthy official introduction that was largely focused on himself. When he eventually did speak, the controversial MAGA figure claimed to have received a series of death threats.

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He told bemused members of the Trump Cabinet that he had received the threats before joking he could "stack em' up" and making a gesture with his hands. He claimed the department was "taking a lot of flack and getting a lot of death threats" for heading up DOGE.

SpaceX founder Mr Musk, who is a Special Government Employee able to control multiple contractors, some in which he has an ownership stake, has seen massive backlash since he joined the Trump administration. Earlier this month, he sent an email to the 2.5 million strong federal workforce asking workers to outline "five things you did last week", threatening that they would lost their jobs if they didn't reply.

Multiple cabinet heads, some of whom were in the room when Mr Musk discussed the email, directed their employees not to answer the email, which came from the Office for Personnel Management. Roughly 1.5 million people replied, leaving around one million who didn't. When pressed as to whether those who failed to respond would be summarily fired, nor he or Mr Trump were able to say whether they would be.

Mr Musk said "I think that email, perhaps, was first interpreted as a performance review, but actually it was a pulse check review." He added, without evidence: "What we are trying to get to the bottom of is 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."