For weeks, the U.S. African Development Foundation says in a new lawsuit, it’s managed to do one thing that many federal agencies have not: beat back DOGE and other members of the Trump administration’s wrecking crew.
It came to a head on Wednesday, when DOGE officials and a Trump appointee attempted to muscle their way in to the agency’s DC headquarters, according to a complaint filed by USADF’s president on Thursday in federal court in Washington. At one point, an appointee even threatened to sue a security guard blocking his way.
So far USADF has succeeded in keeping DOGE from dismantling it.
The 26-page complaint by USADF President Ward Brehm alleges that DOGE claimed that USAID appointee Pete Marocco had been named as acting chair of the USADF board of directors – a legally baseless claim. From there, the complaint alleges, Marocco and DOGE sought to muscle their way in to USADF in various ways so as to dismantle it.
With DOGE in the process of working its way through dozens of agencies across the federal government, conducting illegal firings and unlawfully ordering money frozen, the story of USADF marks a rare example of a federal agency fighting back and, for now, holding DOGE off. It’s now asking a D.C. federal judge to order a halt to DOGE’s attempts to interfere with the agency and its effort to install Marocco as its board chairman.
“Without this Court’s immediate intervention, Defendants will continue their tactics and strongarm their way into USADF, no matter that USADF has a legally constituted Board and President,” the complaint alleges.
USADF embodies the kind of target that Trump has seized upon in his second administration. It mainly exists to invest in African economic development projects. But unlike USAID or other agencies, it has a layer of protection. As the complaint notes, USADF lacks political leadership or appointees that could squire DOGE representatives into the building.
The wrecking began on Feb. 20, according to the complaint.
A DOGE employee named Chris Young told USADF leaders that two engineers –Ethan Shaotran and Nate Cavanaugh – would be detailed to “provide software expertise to modernize architecture, system design, and improve government efficiency,” the complaint says.
The next day, a DOGE attorney named Jake Altik appeared, the complaint alleges. Altik revealed what the complaint describes as DOGE’s true aim: to “dismantle” the agency by reducing it to its “minimum function.” That would mean firing everyone except its board and president while leaving one or two grants in place funded by private partnerships.
From there, USADF leadership started to fight back, the complaint says.
It asked DOGE for an “assessment of the legal basis” of Altik’s vision for the agency and said that DOGE staffers would need security clearances to access agency data.
That set off a back-and-forth that culminated in a showdown at USADF headquarters, the complaint says.
Altik purportedly said that if the board didn’t provide waivers for security clearances, he would have the board fired, the complaint alleges. At one point, DOGE staffers allegedly approached a GOP appointee on the USADF board, incorrectly told him that everyone else had been fired, and asked him to implement their vision. He refused.
After all that, on Feb. 24, the complaint says that the Presidential Personnel Office told Brehm that he had been fired from the board. PPO told the agency days later that it had appointed Pete Marocco, by that time well-known for putting a stranglehold on USAID, as board chairman. In the meantime, the original board had named fellow board member Brehm, a George W. Bush appointee, as president of USADF. Brehm appears to have stepped down from the board to accept the position of president.
But USADF continued to fight through this week.
At a Monday emergency meeting, USADF board members determined that Marocco had been illegally appointed – he was an imposter as board chairman. The board also appointed Brehm as President, and notified Congress of the same. There’s no law that authorizes an acting chairman for USADF, they determined, and the President needs to nominate a replacement for Senate confirmation.
It all came to a head on Wednesday, when Marocco appeared at USADF headquarters with DOGE staffers.
Brehm and others denied him access. Marocco and DOGE purportedly replied with threats to call the U.S. Marshals Service or Secret Service agents to force their way in. At one point, the complaint says, the group threatened to sue a security guard.
Marocco and DOGE weren’t able to make it into the building, the complaint says. They never followed through on their threats, as of this writing. Now, it’s up to a judge.
Read the complaint here:
