'Very young' DOGE employees on their way to fire federal workers locked out, denied entry

Centibillionaire Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has been largely effective so far in its goal of quickly laying off workers and slashing budgets. But Musk's employees are having a little more difficulty with a small agency that's putting up a big fight.

The Daily Beast reported that on Thursday, two "very young men" wearing backpacks apparently working for DOGE were stonewalled by staff at the African Development Foundation (USADF), which has a skeleton crew staff of roughly 30 people and a budget of just $40 million. The two men — who matched the description of DOGE employees who previously introduced themselves to agency employees — said they were ADF employees who didn't have keycards. They were also joined by State Department official Pete Marocco, who President Donald Trump appointed as the new chair of the USADF after firing its previous board members.

According to the Washington Post, the workers inside were aware that DOGE intended to shut down their agency. They reportedly agreed that locking the doors and refusing to let them in was "their last chance to stop DOGE from gaining access to the system." One of the Post's sources confirmed that the DOGE workers had come to the USADF office to fire staff.

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Ward Brehm, who is president and CEO of the USADF, has sued the Trump administration, Marocco and DOGE officials, alleging that the effort to dismantle his agency was illegal. He argued that the agency's budget had already been appropriated by Congress and that the Trump administration was unlawfully attempting to shut it down.

White House spokesperson Anna Kelly stated that USADF had already had its budget "reduced to its statutory minimum" in line with Trump's executive order to shrink the federal workforce. She added that the USADF's prior board had already been "lawfully removed."

"Entitled bureaucrats like [Brehm] are only demonstrating why independent agencies must be held accountable to officials elected by the American people," Kelly said.

After a roughly hour-long standoff, the DOGE employees left and promised to bring back U.S. Marshals to gain entry.

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Watch a video of the confrontation below, or by clicking this link.