Brehm also said that, several days after President Donald Trump issued an executive order targeting the agency, DOGE staffers attempted to gain unauthorized access to the Foundation’s computer systems.
A circuit court judge will not allow the Trump administration to immediately dismantle the U.S. African Development Foundation, a small federal agency that supports investment in African economies.
According to The Associated Press, U.S. District Judge Richard J. Leon of Washington, D.C., issued his order several hours after the president and CEO of the U.S. African Development Foundation filed suit.
In his complaint, Ward Brehm said that he directed his staff to prevent workers from the so-called “Department of Government Efficiency” from entering the agency’s building.
Now, Brehm alleges that neither President Donald Trump nor DOGE have the authority to shutter the African Development Foundation, which was created and funded by an act of Congress.
Brehm also said that, several days after President Donald Trump issued an executive order targeting the agency, DOGE staffers attempted to gain unauthorized access to the Foundation’s computer systems.
The lawsuit claims that DOGE’s staffers intentionally misrepresented their mission under “false pretenses of modernizing and streamlining the USADF’s computer systems.”
“When USADF learned that DOGE was there to kill the agency, USADF staff refused DOGE access to cancel all grants and contracts,” the lawsuit states.
DOGE responded by threatening to terminate Brehm and the agency’s current board of directors.
POLITICO notes that the DOGE staffers were accompanied by Peter Marocco, a Trump administration official who has been charged with dismantlement of the U.S. Agency for International Development.
Brehm’s lawsuit raises concerns that DOGE is effectively trying to destroy the African Development Foundation by installing Marocco as the agency’s chairman and sole board member, giving him the power to cancel grants and terminate staff.
Leon’s time-limited ruling prohibits Brehm from being immediately removed or terminated; it also forbids the Department of Government Efficiency from trying to add new members to the agency’s board.
The White House has since condemned the lawsuit, attempting to posit Brehm as a “rogue” bureaucrat.
“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,” White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said in a statement.
Brehm, for his part, appeared willing to collaborate with Marocco—provided the latter be first appointed by the Foundation’s board, and then confirmed by the United States Senate.
“I will look forward to working with Mr. Marocco after such time that he is nominated for a seat on the Board and his nomination is confirmed by the Senate,” Brehm said. “[…] Until these legal requirements are met, Mr. Marocco does not hold any position or office with USADF, and he may not speak or act on the Foundation’s behalf.”
Sources
Judge stops immediate shutdown of small US agency for African development
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