Every
day
under
the
DOGE
regime
is
more
surreal
and
terrifying
than
the
last.
Here’s
an
excerpt
from
a
lawsuit
filed
yesterday
by
Ward
Brehm,
the
President
and
CEO
of
the
United
States
African
Development
Foundation:
Defendants
have
made
clear
their
intentions:
ignore
statutory
requirements,
pretend
that
leadership
of
the
agency
does
not
exist,
and
shutter
USADF.
That
is
precisely
what
they
did
to
USADF’s
sister
agency,
the
InterAmerican
Foundation
(IAF).
Using
the
same
bullying
tactics,
they
attempted
to
get
access
to
IAF’s
grants
and
contracts.
When
that
failed,
they
purported
to
fire
IAF’s
President
and
then
announced
by
fiat
that
Marocco
had
been
appointed
sole
board
member
(despite
the
IAF
board
also
not
having
been
fired).
In
a
closed-door
board
meeting
last
Friday,
February
28—which
consisted
of
just
Marocco
in
the
IAF
lobby—Marocco
appointed
himself
acting
President
of
IAF.
That
night,
at
Marocco’s
direction,
Treasury
cancelled
all
but
a
handful
of
IAF’s
contracts.
And
two
days
ago,
purporting
to
act
as
both
President
and
sole
board
member,
Marocco
directed
DOGE
to
cancel
all
but
a
few
of
IAF’s
grants,
shut
employees
out
of
the
IT
systems,
laid
off
almost
the
entire
IAF
staff,
and
shut
down
IAF’s
website.
Not
to
put
too
fine
a
point
on
it,
but
this
shit
is
crazy,
and
some
of
the
best
coverage
has
been
by
journalist
Garrett
Graff,
who
has
been
writing
it
up
the
way
we’d
report
it
if
it
happened
in
Not
America.
Trump
is
currently
breaking
the
government
through
parallel
campaigns
to
seize
control
of
federal
spending
and
convert
the
executive
branch
into
a
pure
spoils
system.
To
accomplish
the
latter,
he
has
to
gut
civil
service
protections
for
bureaucrats
and
destroy
congressional
protections
for
leaders
of
independent
agencies.
What’s
happening
at
USADF
and
IAF
involves
both.
The
Inter-American
Foundation
and
the
US
African
Development
Foundation
are
independent
agencies
established
by
Congress
to
promote
development
in
Central
and
South
America
and
Africa.
Under
22
USC
§
290,
the
board
of
USADF
and
its
director
shall
be
“appointed
by
the
President,
by
and
with
the
advice
and
consent
of
the
Senate.”
Brehm,
a
Republican
businessman
from
Minnesota,
has
served
as
director,
a
voluntary,
uncompensated
position,
since
his
appointment
by
President
George
W.
Bush
in
2004.
In
a
February
19
executive
order,
President
Trump
purported
to
shut
down
multiple
federal
agencies,
including
USADF
and
the
IAF
as
part
of
his
plan
“to
dramatically
reduce
the
size
of
the
Federal
Government,
while
increasing
its
accountability
to
the
American
people.”
His
edict
directed
that
“the
non-statutory
components
and
functions
of
the
following
governmental
entities
shall
be
eliminated
to
the
maximum
extent
consistent
with
applicable
law,
and
such
entities
shall
reduce
the
performance
of
their
statutory
functions
and
associated
personnel
to
the
minimum
presence
and
function
required
by
law.”
The
“maximum
extent
with
applicable
law”
would
appear
to
be
circumscribed
by
Congress,
which
specified
in
the
Further
Consolidated
Appropriations
Act
of
2024
that
the
$45
million
allocated
to
the
USADF
(and
the
$62
million
for
IAF)
“may
not
be
used
to
implement
a
reorganization,
redesign,
or
other
plan
described
in
subsection
(b)
by
the
Department
of
State,
the
United
States
Agency
for
International
Development,
or
any
other
Federal
department,
agency,
or
organization
funded
by
this
Act
without
prior
consultation
by
the
head
of
such
department,
agency,
or
organization
with
the
appropriate
congressional
committees.”
But
Trump
and
Elon
Musk
have
never
been
concerned
with
such
niceties.
According
to
Brehm’s
complaint,
they
sent
the
DOGE
bros
into
IAF,
declared
themselves
the
new
masters,
and
shut
the
place
down
in
short
order.
Perhaps
aware
that
they
might
face
some
resistance
at
USADF,
the
DOGE
team’s
initial
approach
promised
that
the
tech
teens
would
simply
be
offering
their
“software
expertise
to
modernize
architecture,
system
design,
and
improve
government
efficiency.”
But
after
the
memorandum
of
understanding
was
signed,
the
DOGE
team
announced
that
their
real
purpose
was
to
shut
the
agency
down
pursuant
to
Trump’s
executive
order.
The
scrappy
little
agency
put
up
a
hell
of
a
fight.
Channeling
their
inner
Cypress
Hill,
the
board
utterly
refused
to
surrender
their
statutory
authority,
even
as
State
Department
goon
Pete
Marocco
declared
himself
the
only
board
member
and
its
director.
And
on
March
5,
when
Marocco
showed
up
with
his
merry
band
of
incels,
they
were
denied
admission.
Yesterday,
Marocco
and
the
DOGE
team
forced
their
way
in
with
the
help
of
federal
marshals.
The
scene
reported
by
the
Washington
Post
appears
to
have
ended
in
a
silent
draw.
According
to
agency
officials,
few
USADF
personnel
were
inside
the
office
—
many
chose
to
telework
after
Wednesday’s
standoff
—
when
they
were
notified
by
fellow
staffers
who
were
having
lunch
nearby
that
DOGE
officials
and
later
Marocco
and
U.S.
marshals
were
arriving
on
the
premises.The
staffers
inside
the
office
exited
the
building
via
a
stairwell
—
bypassing
the
elevators
because
of
an
ongoing
power
outage
—
leaving
behind
their
personal
belongings
to
avoid
confrontation
with
DOGE
employees
and
U.S.
marshals,
USADF
officials
said.As
agency
personnel
waited
outside
and
huddled
together
at
a
nearby
business,
some
received
calls
from Nate
Cavanaugh,
the
28-year-old
tech
entrepreneur
working
with
the
U.S.
DOGE
Service,
who
was
on-site
and
had
claimed
for
a
second
day
to
be
a
USADF
employee
and
requested
employees
to
return
and
grant
him
access
to
the
computer
systems.But
no
USADF
officials
returned
to
the
office,
a
senior
USADF
official
said.
That
official
also
stated
that
the
agency
was
aware
that
Marocco
“came
down
to
dismantle
the
entire
agency
and
fire
all
staff”
by
accessing
USADF
systems,
canceling
grants
and
contracts,
and
installing
a
“reduction
in
force”
order.Hours
passed
as
DOGE
employees
remained
inside
the
USADF
headquarters
before
agency
employees
were
instructed
by
leadership
to
return
home.
It’s
unclear
if
the
DOGE
dipshits
ever
got
into
USADF’s
computers,
or
if
they
contented
themselves
with
smashing
a
couple
of
laptops
and
taking
a
whiz
on
the
conference
room
table
before
skulking
off
to
cancel
grandma’s
social
security
checks.
At
2:30,
Brehm
sought
emergency
relief
from
the
federal
court
in
DC.
And
by
7pm,
Judge
Richard
Leon
had
issued
an
administrative
stay
and
scheduled
a
hearing
for
2
p.m.
Monday.
It
is
further
ORDERED
that
during
the
pendency
of
the
stay,
defendants
are
prohibited
from
taking
the
following
actions:
(1)
“[Ward
Brehm]
may
not
be
removed
from
his
office
as
President
of
USADF,
or
in
any
way
be
treated
as
having
been
removed,
denied
or
obstructed
in
accessing
any
of
the
benefits
or
resources
of
his
office,
or
otherwise
be
obstructed
from
his
ability
to
carry
out
his
duties,
absent
a
decision
by
the
lawfully-constituted
Board
of
USADF
to
remove
him
from
that
office,”
and
(2)
“the
[d]efendants
may
not
appoint
Pete
Marocco
or
any
other
person
as
an
acting
member
of
the
Board
of
USADF,
may
not
appoint
Pete
Marocco
or
any
other
person
as
President
of
USADF
in
place
of
[p]laintiff,
or
otherwise
recognize
any
other
person
as
a
member
of
the
Board
of
USADF
absent
Senate
confirmation
or
as
President
of
USADF
absent
appointment
by
a
lawfully-constituted
Board.”
Can’t
wait
for
DOJ’s
response
on
Sunday
explaining
how
Seila
Law
means
that
Trump
can
magically
substitute
some
sociopathic
functionary
to
oversee
every
independent
agency.
We
ain’t
goin’
out
like
that.
We
ain’t
goin’
out
LIKE
THAT.
Brehm
v.
Marocco
[Docket
via
Court
Listener]
DOGE
staffers
bring
U.S.
marshals
to
small
federal
agency
that
denied
them
access
[WaPo]
Liz
Dye lives
in
Baltimore
where
she
produces
the
Law
and
Chaos substack and podcast.