DOGE team shut out of US African development agency [View all]

Source: The Hill

03/05/25 6:50 PM ET


Staffers for the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) were shut out of the U.S. African Development Foundation (USADF) headquarters in D.C. on Wednesday, amid an escalating fight over leadership of the agency. Several DOGE workers tried to enter the agency’s office in Washington on Wednesday but were “unable to access” it, the USADF confirmed to The Hill. The staffers eventually left the building, the agency said. The Hill reached out to DOGE for comment.

The agency’s chair, Ward Brehm, wrote in a letter to a DOGE staffer obtained by The Hill that he “specifically instructed the staff of USADF to adhere to our rules and procedure of not allowing any meetings of this type without my presence.”

President Trump is reportedly attempting to install Peter Marocco, the deputy acting head of the U.S. Agency for International Aid (USAID) who has overseen Trump’s attempts to gut the agency, to lead the USADF. Marocco was reportedly present alongside the DOGE team Wednesday.

Brehm in his letter suggested that Trump needed to officially appoint Marocco to the independent agency’s board before he has power over its operations. “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 in the letter. “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.”

Read more: https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5178995-trump-african-development-doge/