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In the background over the last couple of weeks, I’ve been trying to find out about the purported activities of the U.S. Marshals Service working at the behest of DOGE. When DOGE operatives took over the Foundation for African Development a couple of weeks ago, they reportedly made forced entry with the assistance of the U.S. Marshals. That’s not really what the Marshals do. They are housed within the Justice Department. But their job is to protect the federal judiciary and execute its orders. Special statutes exist that also allow them to enforce certain laws. But there was no court order here. So it didn’t really make sense.
When I poked around, it seemed like people just assumed they were Marshals. Or perhaps they identified themselves as such. But the more questions I asked, the less clear it was who they really were, notwithstanding the press reports that simply stated it as a fact. I put in a press request with the Marshals Service press office to confirm that these were in fact U.S. Marshalls. But I never heard back. Then yesterday there was a similar standoff at the U.S. Institute for Peace which ended with the Marshals again helping DOGE make forcible entry into the disputed premises. Or that’s what the initial reports in the Times said.
It turns out, that’s not what happened at all. According to the later-published full account in the Times, the U.S. Marshals Service wasn’t even there. DOGE operatives arrived in black SUVs along with FBI agents and accompanied “by what appeared to be private security who arrived in separate vehicles and were dressed in street clothing.” This was preceded over the weekend by communications from the FBI and the Department of Justice threatening criminal prosecution if DOGE wasn’t allowed to take over the Institute, which the Institute board says is a congressionally created independent entity outside of the executive branch.
But it wasn’t the FBI agents or the “private security” who rousted the USIP staff out of their office. It was the DC Metro police. Here are the key grafs in the Times piece …
Mr. Musk’s team did not get into the building until officers from Washington’s Metropolitan Police Department showed up, Ms. Lin said. Institute officials had called the police to report that Department of Government Efficiency members were trespassing, she said, but the police instead cleared institute leaders from the building.
A police spokesman, Tom Lynch, said that officers were called to the scene on a report of an unlawful entry and said the police left after the people who were seeking unlawful entry had left. He did not say who those people were or provide more information on what happened at the scene aside from the fact that no arrests had been made.
This is, to put it mildly, very bad.
It certainly would have been clear to the MPD that, regardless of whoever was legally entitled to control the office, the USIP staff were the ones who were there and it was the DOGE boys who were trying to kick them out. DOGE had no court order. At best the right to occupy the space is a matter of dispute and as yet unresolved. So why did they force the USIP staff to leave?
My best guess is that what happened here is that both sides claimed they were the ones with rightful custody. But the FBI agents were with the DOGE boys. So the MPD officers decided the FBI agents must be right and made the staff leave. That doesn’t mean they were right to do that. Far from it. That’s just my best guess as to what happened. The local cops saw other cops (i.e., the FBI agents) and took their lead about who was in the right. But there’s zero legal basis for what they did. Indeed, I’m pretty sure the FBI agents knew they had no legal basis to use police powers — i.e., force — to resolve the matter. Otherwise why didn’t they do it themselves? That speaks for itself, in my mind.
As the Times story explains, there was a lengthy back and forth before the MPD arrived. In fact there was a funny/chilling moment when the USIP lawyers came out to the black SUVs and basically said, guys let’s talk about this. And someone said from inside the SUVs: Get in the car and we’ll talk.
To which the lawyers basically said, uhhh, yeah, I’ve seen this movie before. Fuck that.
After several minutes, two lawyers for the institute emerged from the building and approached the vehicle. What followed was a windowside negotiation: Mr. Musk’s representatives in the car, including a man who identified himself as Mr. Jackson, the State Department official and newly installed agency president, appeared to ask the lawyers to get in.
“I mean, I don’t know where you’re going to take us,” Ms. Lin said, declining.
“We don’t want to sit in here,” added Mr. Foote, the second lawyer for the institute, in a mellow, coaxing voice. “We can take a walk. We’ll take a walk, come on. It’s a nice day.”
They eventually agreed to chat over zoom. But it seems like the MPD’s arrival made that moot.
Of course, it’s possible that there was more pre-arrangement between the FBI or DOGE and the MPD. But the fact that it was apparently the USIP’s lawyers who called the MPD makes me think that it was fortuitous.
I’m not a lawyer, but I can’t think of any legal basis the MPD had to do what they did.
So the outstanding questions are …
Why did the MPD do that? And what’s their explanation now? Their explanation to the Times doesn’t really cut it.
Next, was it really the U.S. Marshals at the Foundation for African Development? I remain highly skeptical.
Finally, who is this private security escorting the DOGE operatives around DC? Have they been deputized by some federal law enforcement agency? Why are they there at all? Still hanging in the background is that Elon’s private security was reportedly deputized by the U.S. Marshals. Was that them?