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executive order
Peace Institute Vows Legal Action to Oppose 'Illegal Takeover' by DOGE
"If DOGE can do this to USIP, what's to stop them from breaking into offices of other NGOs that receive U.S. funds? Or law firms or media that annoy the president?" said one humanitarian advocate.
Mar 18, 2025
Representatives of Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency on Monday entered the headquarters with of the U.S. Institute of Peace with the help of D.C. police, according to the institute's staff—and now USIP's acting president, who was fired by the institute's newly configured board, is vowing to take legal action.
Fired acting president George Moose, who is challenging his removal, toldThe Associated Press on Monday, "What has happened here today is an illegal takeover by elements of the executive branch of a private nonprofit."
To CNN, Moose said that the institute intends to "vigorously" oppose DOGE's actions in court. "We are confident of our legal status, and we are confident that a court that gives us a hearing will be persuaded by the strength of our legal argument," he told the outlet.
The dramatic showdown on Monday follows an executive order signed by U.S. President Donald Trump in February that called for "the nonstatutory components and functions" of select "governmental entities"—including USiP—to "be eliminated to the maximum extent consistent with applicable law."
USIP, whose mission is to promote peace and end conflict abroad, is an independent organization that was created by Congress in 1984. Representatives from USIP contend that because the institute is a congressionally chartered nonprofit, Musk and Trump do not have the power to dismantle it, according to the The New York Times.
On Friday, the White House told all but three members of USIP's board they were fired and its remaining members—Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and president of the National Defense University Peter Garvin—replaced Moose with Kenneth Jackson, a State Department official who, per the Times, was involved in the Trump administration's targeting of the now largely hollowed out U.S. Agency for International Development. USIP does not view Jackson's appointment as legal, per CNN.
DOGE representatives unsuccessfully tried to gain access to the USIP building twice on Friday, the second time with FBI agents in toe, but were turned away by representatives for the institute, according to the Times.
Then, on Monday, members of DOGE arrived again with Jackson. According to multiple outlets, citing representatives from USIP, the institute called the D.C. Metropolitan Police, but when they arrived they allowed Musk's team to enter the building.
USIP's chief security officer Colin O'Brien toldCNN that when he went out to greet the police "they held the door open and allowed members of DOGE to enter the building, where they were also followed by 10 to 12 police officers, uniformed D.C. police officers."
Some USIP officials remained in the building after DOGE representatives were let in, including Moose. Police later forced him to leave the building, per CNN.
"Mr. Moose denied lawful access to Kenneth Jackson, the acting USIP president (as approved by the USIP board). The D.C. Police Department arrived on-site and escorted Mr. Jackson into the building. The only unlawful individual was Mr. Moose, who refused to comply, and even tried to fire USIP's private security team when said security team went to give access to Mr. Jackson," DOGE wrote in a post on X on Monday night.
Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.) declared on X on Monday night that "I was at USIP tonight to conduct congressional oversight over DOGE's break-in. I spoke with Acting President & CEO Moose. USIP is an independent, non-profit entity and I will work to stop DOGE's illegal power grab."
Jeremy Konyndyk, the president of Refugees International, wrote on X: "if DOGE can do this to USIP, what's to stop them from breaking into offices of other NGOs that receive U.S. funds? Or law firms or media that annoy the president?"
Two Musk officials who gained entry to USIP on Monday were Nate Cavanaugh and Justin Aimonetti, the same DOGE staffers who last month forced entry to the U.S. African Development Foundation (USADF), which was also named in Trump's February order, per the Times.
In early March, staff with the USADF tried to keep DOGE staff from entering their offices in D.C. DOGE staff managed to gain entry after returning with U.S. Marshals.
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Trump Attacks the Right to a Lawyer
The presidential assault on the lawyers and law firms representing his litigation adversaries is an attack on the very foundation of the legal system.
Mar 12, 2025
In America’s legal system, both sides to a dispute are entitled to counsel. President Donald Trump rejects that premise because he prefers a one-sided battle that he is more likely to win.
To that end, he is using his special ability to combine vindictiveness with strategy. Wielding the power of the presidency, he is penalizing the attorneys who represent his opponents. Even more troubling, other lawyers are helping him undermine the foundation of our justice system.
Throughout his campaign, candidate Trump railed against his supposed “enemies.” In addition to prosecutors who pressed charges and judges who presided over cases against him, he promised “retribution” against private-sector lawyers who had represented his political adversaries. As president, he’s keeping that promise.
President Trump is not a lawyer, but he did swear to “preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States.” Who will hold him to that promise?
The president’s first attack came in early February when he revoked the security clearances of Mark Zaid and Norm Eisen—outspoken Trump critics. For decades, Mr. Zaid has represented whistleblowers in Republican and Democratic administrations, including the whistleblower at the center of President Trump’s first impeachment. Mr. Eisen helped House Democrats develop the articles of impeachment. Because the president “flooded the zone” with tariffs, terminations, and tantrums, those suspensions received little news coverage.
His second blow landed on February 25, 2025, when he issued an executive order suspending the security clearances of all attorneys and employees at Covington & Burling—a premier 1,300-attorney global law firm representing former special counsel Jack Smith. During the campaign, he had threatened Smith repeatedly with deportation and worse. Smith retained Covington, which represented him pro bono before he resigned as special counsel. The firm is still his defense counsel.
The executive order prevents Smith’s attorneys from accessing important government materials and makes defending him more challenging. Perhaps more importantly, it was also a warning to other attorneys contemplating the representation of anyone the president does not like.
The third attack occurred with the executive order of March 6. He suspended the security clearances of individuals at Perkins Coie—a global law firm of more than 1,200 attorneys worldwide. Among other penalties, the president instructed the heads of all federal agencies to limit Perkins employees’ access to federal government buildings.
At their core, the executive orders are a transparent effort to intimidate other attorneys who represent the president’s adversaries. For example, his stated justifications for the Perkins suspension are nonsensical. He complains about work that two partners at the firm, Marc Elias and Michael Sussman, did on behalf of the Clinton campaign in 2016. But both lawyers left Perkins years ago. Trump’s order also criticizes the firm’s involvement in successful challenges to voter restriction laws in Republican-controlled states. And he even includes the firm’s commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion as a reason for its suspension.
The presidential assault on the lawyers and law firms representing his litigation adversaries is an attack on the very foundation of the legal system. The American College of Trial Lawyers (ACTL)—an elite body of litigation attorneys—responded immediately to his executive orders:
Lawyers throughout the country should unite in condemning these actions in the strongest possible terms.
The White House’s retaliating against a law firm merely because it represented a client against whom the Executive Branch has a grievance, threatens the bedrock principles of our system of justice. Under those principles, everyone is entitled to legal representation. In criminal matters, that right is enshrined in the Sixth Amendment to the Constitution.
The ACTL’s statement outlined the broader consequences of the president’s assault:
Lawyers cannot be denied access to the courts nor should their advocacy be throttled merely because the government disagrees with the positions asserted or because litigants seek to enjoin Executive actions that may violate statutory and constitutional rights of a free people. When government retaliation is grounded in efforts to punish lawyers for the parties that they represent or the positions that they assert, our system of justice is undermined.
Likewise, speaking for the entire profession, the American Bar Association declared, “These government actions deny clients access to justice and betray our fundamental values.”
To become a licensed member of the bar, every attorney swears an oath to uphold the Constitution. Every attorney is bound by rules of ethical conduct requiring them to support the rule of law. Every attorney has an obligation to enhance public confidence in the legal system. Yet attorneys drafted, reviewed, and approved the executive orders that are undermining the bedrock principles of our justice system.
President Trump is not a lawyer, but he did swear to “preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States.” Who will hold him to that promise? Asking for a friend of democracy.
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Judge Stops DOGE From Shutting Down African Aid Agency After Tense Standoff With Staff
DOGE staffers returned to the U.S. African Development Foundation Thursday with U.S. marshals, demanding access to the agency.
Mar 07, 2025
After several employees of a small foreign assistance agency faced a "traumatizing" show of force by Department of Government Efficiency staffers who were accompanied by several U.S. marshals Thursday in an effort to take over their offices, a federal judge blocked the Trump administration from shutting down the agency in the coming days.
Ward Brehm, president of the U.S. Africa Development Foundation (USADF), filed a lawsuit Thursday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, arguing that DOGE's attempt to remove Brehm from his position and take over the agency violates the Appointments Clause and the African Development Foundation Act, the law passed by Congress which created USADF.
U.S. District Judge Richard J. Leon, an appointee of former Republican President George W. Bush, issued a temporary injunction. Brehm and the advocacy group Democracy Forward, which is representing him in the suit, also requested a permanent injunction.
Skye Perryman, president and CEO of Democracy Forward, called the ruling "a sigh of relief for people in the United States and across the globe who benefit from the safer and more resilient communities USADF's work creates."
"Democracy Forward will continue to meet the Trump administration in court with every unlawful step it takes," said Perryman. "We will continue to use every tool available to protect USADF and fight back against the Trump-Musk overreach."
After first attempting to gain access to the UDSADF offices on Wednesday—an effort that was blocked by about 30 agency employees—DOGE staffers returned to the agency on Thursday at about 10:30 am, accompanied by Pete Marocco, director of the State Department Office of Foreign Assistance, and five U.S. marshals.
Many of the USADF employees worked from home on Thursday after the incident the previous day; the ones who were in the office avoided a confrontation with the DOGE employees and U.S. marshals by exiting the building via a stairwell, leaving their personal belongings behind.
USADF officials who spoke to The Washington Post on the condition of anonymity—to avoid retribution by DOGE and the White House—described the scene as "frantic and 'traumatizing.'"
President Donald Trump signed an executive order on February 19 ordering "a reduction in the elements of the federal bureaucracy that the president has determined are unnecessary," including USADF, which works to further economic development across Africa by partnering with farmers and field staff; the think tank U.S. Institute of Peace; the Presidio Trust, which oversees a national park site in San Francisco; and the Inter-American Foundation (IAF), which invests in development across Latin America and the Caribbean.
Brehm said in his legal filing that DOGE staffers tried to access USADF's computer systems shortly after the executive order was signed.
"When USADF learned that DOGE was there to kill the agency, USADF staff refused DOGE access to cancel all grants and contracts," read the complaint.
DOGE placed nearly all the employees of the IAF on administrative leave this week after canceling grants for investments in alpaca farming in Peru, beekeeping in Brazil, and vegetable growing in El Salvador.
On Thursday, USADF staff told the Post in a statement that their offices "were entered today by Mr. Peter Marocco and others who we do not believe are authorized to represent the agency. USADF is fully complying with its statutory obligations. We will follow the law with the expectation that our staff will be treated with dignity and respect."
A White House spokesperson, Anna Kelly, referred to Brehm in a statement as an "entitled, rogue bureaucrat" and claimed he has "no authority to defy executive orders by the president of the United States or physically bar his representatives from entering the agencies they run."
A USADF official told the Post Wednesday that "it's explicit in the statute [that created USADF] that the agency can only be dissolved by an act of Congress and the president can only be hired and fired by the board."
In his lawsuit, Brehm wrote that if DOGE shuts down USADF, "we will feel the ripple effects across the African continent and in the United States."
"Our work boosts economic stability in fragile regions, with investments in more than 1,000 African-owned and led businesses, entrepreneurs, and organizations," said Brehm. "Not only have we improved the lives of millions of people in Africa, we've contributed to a safer and more secure world."
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