DOGE overstepping with raid of independent agency prompts calls for congressional oversight

Metatube

Rep. Don Beyer talks with Rachel Maddow about what he witnessed when Elon Musk's DOGE employees raided the U.S. Institute for Peace, and discusses his concerns that DOGE overstepping its authority and making dangerous use of law enforcement resources to assert itself.  For more context and news coverage of the most important stories of our day click here: https://www.msnbc.com/  » Subscribe to MSNBC: https://www.youtube.com/msnbc » Subscribe to MSNBC on TikTok https://www.tiktok.com/@msnbc  » Subscribe to MSNBC on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/msnbc  Download our new MSNBC app for the latest breaking news and daily headlines at a glance: https://www.msnbc.com/information/download-msnbc-app-n1241692  Follow MSNBC Show Blogs  MaddowBlog: https://www.msnbc.com/maddowblog  MSNBC delivers breaking news, in-depth analysis of political headlines, commentary and informed perspectives. Find video clips and segments from The Rachel Maddow Show, Inside with Jen Psaki, Morning Joe, The Beat, Deadline: White House, All In, The Last Word, The 11th Hour, and more.  Connect with MSNBC Online  Visit msnbc.com: https://www.msnbc.com/  Subscribe to the MSNBC Daily Newsletter: https://link.msnbc.com/join/5ck/msnbc-daily-signup  #MSNBC #DOGE #ElonMusk

Transcript

00:00So, last night, the DOJ team, run by President Donald Trump's top campaign donor, staged

00:07a hostile, physical takeover of an independent nonprofit called the U.S. Institute of Peace.

00:14The U.S. Institute of Peace is not a government agency.

00:16Theirs is not a government building.

00:18They told the DOJ staffers they could not come in, that they had no authority over them.

00:23DOJ staff then physically forced their way in, with the help of the FBI and the D.C.

00:29police.

00:30Congressman Don Beyer of Virginia heard what was happening and went there, along with his

00:34wife.

00:35He later wrote online, quote, I was at the U.S. Institute of Peace tonight to conduct

00:39congressional oversight over DOJ's break-in.

00:41USIP is an independent nonprofit entity, and I will work to stop DOJ's illegal power

00:47grab.

00:48Joining us now is Congressman Don Beyer of Virginia.

00:50Congressman, I really appreciate you being here to talk about this tonight.

00:54Yeah, thank you, Rachel, very much.

00:56It's very concerning.

00:57And you laid out the case very well.

01:01What did you see last night when you went?

01:03When we got there, the D.C. police had already escorted all the staff out.

01:07The last person out was the president of the USIP, George Moose, a longtime U.S. ambassador.

01:13And he had locked himself in his office to protest the illegal firing of 11 of the USIP

01:19board members by Donald Trump.

01:21And the D.C. police actually picked the lock on his office to get him and take him to the

01:26outside.

01:27The real challenge is that there's something in the law, the Congressional Charter for

01:32USIP, that says a president can replace a board member with board consultation for committing

01:39a felony or some gross malfeasance.

01:42He didn't consult any board members, and certainly there were no felonies.

01:47What do you make of the use of all these various law enforcement agencies as part of

01:54these takeovers?

01:55We saw this with the U.S.-Africa Development Foundation.

01:59We saw it with some of the very early stuff that DOJ did, and we didn't know who they

02:03were saying they were going to call on to force their way in.

02:07But now it seems like they're invoking the U.S. marshals, the FBI and now the D.C. police

02:13as effectively their muscle, as their armed phalanx that will physically force them into

02:19places that they may not be legally allowed.

02:23It's very concerning.

02:24It's like, where does DOJ get any legitimacy, any right to invade an independent nonprofit

02:32501c3?

02:33Rachel, there are 232,000 501c3 nonprofits in the United States.

02:38By this measure, Donald Trump could send the police or the marshals into any one of

02:42them and demand to see their books, throw out their people, replace their board members.

02:48It's really unprecedented.

02:49The poor D.C. police took their orders initially from the acting U.S. attorney, this guy Ed

02:55Martin, who's just a MAGA hatchet man with a lot of personal vendettas.

03:01And when they were also called by George Moose and the USIP leadership, they didn't know

03:05who to trust.

03:07I guess they looked at the FBI who said, well, you know, Trump fired the board members, therefore

03:11you've got to stick with him, although that was clearly illegal.

03:16The takeover and the shutdown of these agencies is being litigated in all sorts of ways and

03:22all sorts of places.

03:23I imagine it will be by USIP and U.S.

03:25Africa Development Foundation.

03:26That one's already in court and all of these other agencies.

03:29But this issue of what law enforcement is doing, turning up with guns and saying, we're

03:34taking you out of here physically, we're picking the lock, we're getting you out,

03:38and we're doing it on behalf of DOJ, that seems like an area for potential litigation.

03:43It also seems like an area for law enforcement oversight, congressional oversight, including

03:49of the D.C. police, the FBI, the Marshals Service and anybody else who they're using

03:52in this capacity.

03:53Do you see any appetite for that among your colleagues on Capitol Hill?

03:56Oh, very much so.

03:58I think our busiest committee on Capitol Hill will be the oversight committee led by my

04:02colleague Jerry Connolly and Jamie Raskin, AOC, others will be deeply involved in it.

04:08Because we don't have a lot of tools, we're a minority, but we have to use every tool

04:13that we have.

04:14And the oversight, the ability to investigate and then get the word out to the American

04:18people is really, really important.

04:20Yeah.

04:21And if somebody is calling the cops in D.C. for what is effectively a burglary or an armed

04:27assault, they should expect that the cops respond to it not on behalf of one political

04:33faction or another, but on behalf of a potential victim of crime.

04:38In any other place than Washington, D.C., I'm hoping that the police would be much

04:42more independent.

04:43In D.C., they're going to look first at the U.S. attorney, sadly.

04:47And that's the wrong person in this case.

04:50Congressman Don Beyer, Democrat of Virginia, sir, thank you very much for your time tonight.

04:53And thank you for going there last night.

04:55Having your eyes on it is a really important part of this.

04:59I just wish I'd been able to make a difference.

05:00Yeah, well, you might yet.

Category

Transcript

Recommended