It may not be a typical one, but when police start busting into private buildings on the order of the president, it sure comes close:
Employees of Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency entered the U.S. Institute of Peace on Monday despite protests from the nonprofit that it is not part of the executive branch and is instead an independent agency.
“DOGE has broken into our building,” the organization’s CEO, George Moose, said.
USIP employees called the Metropolitan Police Department and reported a break-in. Police cars were outside USIP headquarters in Northwest D.C. Monday evening.
The alleged intrusion came after the Trump administration fired most of the USIP board and sent its new leader into the Washington headquarters of the independent organization on Monday, in its latest effort targeting agencies tied to foreign assistance work.
The remaining three members of the group’s board — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and National Defense University President Peter Garvin — fired Moose on Friday, according to a document obtained by The Associated Press.
USIP is a congressionally funded independent nonprofit that works to advance U.S. values in conflict resolution, ending wars and promoting good governance.
Apparently, they were unwilling to let this play out in court. They just went ahead because they believe they are the ones to interpret the law and the Congress is a bunch of potted plants and trained seals who apparently have nothing to say about anything.
“The employees of our building are not federal employees, executive branch employees,” Moose said. “They are employees of the institute. We have our own, separate board; we have our own bypass authority to go directly to Congress in order to get our money. Somehow, all of those arguments have not prevailed.”
The DOGE workers gained access to the building after several unsuccessful attempts Monday and after having been turned away on Friday, a senior U.S. Institute of Peace official said. The official spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter.
[…]
The nonprofit says it was created by Congress in 1984 as an “independent nonprofit corporation,“ and it does not meet U.S. Code definitions of “government corporation,” “government-controlled corporation” or “independent establishment.”
Josh Marshall dug into the role of the Metro POlice in this because it’s weird that they actually came in and evicted the legal tenets of a building without any due process. Apparently, they were told to do it by Trump’s personal henchman, Ed Martin the acting US Attorney in Washington:
It’s actually worse than what I suspected.
According to the MPD they first got involved when they were contacted by the DC US Attorney’s Office, the one currently run by acting US Attorney Ed Martin, the election denier and Jan 6th lawyer. The US Attorney’s office told the MPD that there was a disturbance at the US Institute of Peace offices and that some intruders or trespassers were refusing to leave. They gave the MPD the contact information for the guy Trump says he has appointed to run it. That would be Kenneth Jackson, though the statement doesn’t include his name. They talked with Jackson and then forced the USIP staff to leave based on what the US Attorney’s office told them about who had rightful possession of the office.
They play coy about exactly why the staff left.
MPD members went to the USIP building and contacted an individual who allowed MPD members inside of the building. Once inside of the building, the acting USIP President requested that all the unauthorized individuals inside of the building leave. Eventually, all the unauthorized individuals inside of the building complied with the acting USIP President’s request and left the building without further incident, and no arrests were made.”
…The police showed up and said they had to leave and they left. I don’t think the USIP folks or their lawyers were up for a police and barricades situation. The real issues here is that the US Attorney or at least the US Attorney’s office contacted the MPD and told them that there was no legitimate dispute and they had to make the staff leave and they did.
They just do what they want when they want it. There was no real reason for this. It could have been litigated without taking over the place. But that chainsaw has a life of its own.
Today a Judge ordered Elon Musk and DOGE to restore access of USAID employees, including those on administrative leave, to USAID computer systems. Judge Theodore Chuang, Obama appointee, also bars DOGE from actions related to USAID shutdown. I think it’s the first time Musk has been named personally.
These orders against Trump and DOGE are adding up. The Supremes are going to get involved sooner rather than later.