Legal and political experts are raising alarms over what they describe as a deepening constitutional crisis after associates and close allies of Elon Musk—whom President Donald Trump appointed to lead the newly created temporary Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)—reportedly gained access to or locked employees out of at least four federal agencies: the U.S. Treasury, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and the General Services Administration (GSA).
"USAID being unlawfully dismantled. DOGE member has closed HQ. New tranche of workers cut off email," wrote the former Assistant USAID Administrator for Global Health, Atul Gawande. "Staff tell me, 'It is frightening being inside USAID right now. Our checks and balances failed. Congress has abdicated its responsibilities.' And Sec. [of State Marco] Rubio has abdicated his."
The Atlantic's Norman Ornstein is a political scientist and co-author of the book, "It's Even Worse Than It Looks: How the American Constitutional System Collided With the New Politics of Extremism."
Dr. Ornstein writes, "All of this is completely illegal; we have people who are not a part of government staging a coup right in front of our eyes. Not a single Republican in Congress objecting, Democrats floundering, the press treating it as a misdemeanor. Beyond frightening."
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"This is how democracy dies," responded economist Tony Annett, a 16-year veteran of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). "The opposition does nothing. The media play it down. The bureaucrats comply."
Longtime congressional reporter Jamie Dupree writes, "Congress approved money to run USAID. Trump is evidently ready to shut it down. The Constitutional crisis may already be here."
Constitutional law professor and political scientist Anthony Michael Kreis responded, "They have used the presidency like the royal prerogative. This is a constitutional crisis. Does Congress make laws or do we have a king who can dispense with them as James II did?"
Gawande, who left USAID on January 20, spoke with Fox News' Jennifer Griffin. She reports that he "confirms 50 top USAID officials removed. DOGE teams forced their way into USAID offices this weekend."
“If you want to end foreign aid, let’s have that discussion, but this is a Congressionally statutorily created agency that President Kennedy signed into law. What is happening now is an unlawful shutdown and purge,” Gawande told Fox News, as Griffin reported. “800 people work for USAID’s Global Health, 400 have been terminated. It’s not legal.”
“It’s an unlawful shutdown, purge and dismantling of the agency,” he said.
“This is a gift to our enemies and competitors. This pause is not a pause. It’s the destruction of the agency,” Gawande also told Griffin. “Two weeks ago I was combatting diseases. We had 21 serious outbreaks at the time worldwide. Three are serious now: an Ebola outbreak in the capital of Uganda. Bird flu has broken out in 49 countries. Our efforts to contain them have all been shut down.”
“We were on the verge of ending HIV, TB, and malaria. That has all ended with this pause. It is a gift to our enemies and competitors,” Gawande said.
On Friday, U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT), pointing to USAID, wrote: "Hearing that Trump is about to double down on the constitutional crisis. A President cannot eliminate an appropriated federal agency by executive order. That’s what a despot - who wants to steal the taxpayers money to enrich his billionaire cabal - does."
Late Monday morning Senator Murphy added, "It’s hard to overhype how dangerous this moment is. This a naked attempt to seize government by the right wing billionaire class so they can steal from the American people."
Elon Musk on Sunday wrote: "USAID is a criminal organization. Time for it to die."
Dylan Williams, Vice President for Government Affairs at the Center for International Policy, responded: "Without any lawful authority, goons are physically forcing their way into federal agencies to intimidate staff, seize protected records and shut them down. Musk then brags about it using incendiary language that could well incite violence. This is a full constitutional crisis."
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On Saturday, New York magazine's Chas Danner reported: "Elon Musk May Have Your Social Security Number."
"The world’s richest man may now have access to the confidential personal information of every taxpayer in the United States. According to the New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, Treasury secretary Scott Bessent on Friday granted Elon Musk and his minions at the faux agency DOGE full access to the Treasury’s massive federal payment system. As with the rest of Musk’s wide-reaching project within the U.S. government under Donald Trump, it’s not at all clear what he plans to do with this unprecedented access."
Danner also pointed to reporting from political scientist Seth Masket, saying he is "sounding the alarm, as well."
"There are many disturbing aspects of this," Masket wrote. "But perhaps the most fundamental is that Elon Musk is not a federal employee, nor has he been appointed by the President nor approved by the Senate to have any leadership role in government. The 'Department of Government Efficiency,' announced by Trump in a January 20th executive order, is not truly any sort of government department or agency, and even the executive order uses quotes in the title. It’s perfectly fine to have a marketing gimmick like this, but DOGE does not have power over established government agencies, and Musk has no role in government. It does not matter that he is an ally of the President. Musk is a private citizen taking control of established government offices. That is not efficiency; that is a coup."
Journalist Mehdi Hassan on Sunday noted, "A private citizen is invading and shutting down government departments. The courts and Congress are awol. If this isn’t a constitutional crisis, and oligarchy gone wild, then I don’t know what is."
"What Musk and DOGE are doing is THE constitutional crisis, responded journalist Mike Rothschild. "It is literally unconstitutional and illegal. Congress decides on spending, not 20 year old cronies of an oligarch. So where is Congress while Trump and Musk delegate them out of existence? What are they doing?"
On Monday, former U.S. Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) called for members of Congress to "Do something," and go into the agency buildings where Musk's associates, he said, "locked out" employees. "Dare them to stop you."
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