Judge Declines to Block Firing of US Agency for African Development Head

Brehm alleged that DOGE employees had approached USADF in late February with plans to reduce the agency’s scope.

The E. Barrett Prettyman U.S. Court House in Washington on Feb. 19, 2025. Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times

A federal judge on March 11 declined to temporarily block Pete Marocco, acting head of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), from firing the president of the U.S. African Development Foundation (USADF) and being named its board chair. Marocco was designated acting head of USAID by Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

The ruling stems from a March 6 suit brought by USADF’s former president, Ward Brehm, against Marocco, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) head Amy Gleason, and Director of the White House Presidential Personnel Office Sergio Gor.

Brehm alleged that DOGE employees had approached USADF in late February with plans to reduce the agency’s scope as outlined in President Donald’s Trump Feb. 19 executive order on “the reduction of the federal bureaucracy,” and threatened to fire its board members when the agency’s employees refused to cooperate. At that time, Brehm was chairman of USADF’s board.

On Feb. 24, the Presidential Personnel Office notified USADF that Brehm was fired from his position as board chair, and four days later the agency was informed that Marocco would be its new acting board chair.

The agency was also told that Marocco, who is also director of the Office of Foreign Assistance, was now the only board member: The other members had been fired without prior notice, Brehm said. The board members did not accept their terminations, Brehm said, because board appointment also requires confirmation by the Senate.

On March 3, the fired board members appointed Brehm as president of USADF and wrote a letter to Congress alleging that Marocco was attempting to take over the agency, according to the lawsuit.

Brehm alleges that Marocco’s plan is “virtually identical” to a procedure used on the InterAmerican Foundation (IAF).

According to court documents, on Feb. 28, Marocco allegedly held an “emergency board meeting” in that building’s lobby, where he named himself its sole board member and president. He then used that authority to order the Treasury Department to cancel most of IAF’s contracts.

Brehm asked the judge to declare his removal as president unlawful, and to prevent Marocco or any member of the federal government from being named board chair or replacing him as president.

U.S. District Judge Richard J. Leon had granted these requests while both parties were awaiting the March 11 hearing. However, at that hearing, the judge denied Brehm’s request to be reinstated, at least for the time being.

Leon wrote in his opinion that Brehm had failed to prove “irreparable harm” to himself, and that although the firing of the board was a more substantial point, it did not merit a block without a further hearing.

Brehm’s attorneys have filed for a preliminary injunction, hoping the judge will issue a block on the firings after a more thorough consideration of the issues.

Bradley Girard, attorney for the plaintiff, warned at the hearing that if the judge did not temporarily block Brehm’s firing, the government could dismantle USADF in the interim as the case is being decided.

“They will shutter the agency, there will be nothing left,” he said.

Leon said that while the “slimming down” of the agency may be permissible, he shared the plaintiff’s concerns that the government could shut it down entirely. He said that in a future hearing, representatives from DOGE would be required to testify, under oath, about its proposal to reduce USADF’s size.

Defendants have said so far, that they will maintain USADF at the statutorily required “minimum presence and function” by maintaining the board, president, CEO, and “one or two grants funded by private sector partnerships.”