On Thursday, federal marshals escorted officials from the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) into the U.S. African Development Foundation. This came a day after the employees were barred from entering the foundation.
Once inside, security officials were directed to change the federal agency’s locks, according to The New York Times.
Reportedly, this “takeover” on Thursday “came after a weekslong standoff between administration officials and the foundation’s leaders,” the Times noted.
The foundation has 55 employees and a budget of $45 million.
Less than an hour after the DOGE officials arrived on Thursday, the foundation’s president, Ward Brehm, filed a lawsuit in federal court trying to stop DOGE, and, more specifically, Director of the Office of Foreign Assistance Pete Marocco, from taking control (via NYT):
“Without this court’s immediate intervention, defendants will continue their tactics and strong-arm their way into” the foundation, Mr. Brehm’s complaint said, predicting that “within days, the damage that they do will be irreparable.”
He asked the judge to issue injunctions preventing the Trump administration from removing him from his post and from installing Mr. Marocco or any other person in his place, and a court order stating that Mr. Brehm is the rightful president of the foundation.
The White House responded in a statement.
“Entitled, rogue bureaucrats have no authority to defy executive orders by the president of the United States or physically bar his representatives from entering the agencies they run,” Anna Kelly, a White House spokeswoman, said.
The standoff that occurred on Wednesday lasted an hour. On Thursday, once DOGE staffers got in, they stayed at the agency for “several hours.”
Elon Musk and DOGE are bringing much-needed accountability to our out-of-control bureaucracy as they take a chainsaw to rampant waste, fraud, and abuse.
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