On Monday night, MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow expressed serious concerns over the growing influence of DOGE, the group led by Elon Musk. Maddow highlighted what she described as a “dangerous shift” after DOGE staffers, reportedly accompanied by U.S. Marshals, forced their way into the U.S. African Development Foundation building.
This incident followed a similar attempt by DOGE to enter the U.S. Institute of Peace, where they were blocked by FBI agents. Both agencies are independent and detached from the executive branch, making these forced entries particularly alarming.
“There are legitimate legal disputes as to whether this DOGE group has any legal authority over some of these agencies that they’re trying to get into, so they can take over their systems and fire their staff and shut them down. Those disputes are legal disputes that need to be sorted out legally,” Maddow said.
She continued, “You can’t just use guns to force your way in, in the meantime, as a means of settling that dispute.”
In her usual direct style, Maddow warned viewers that these actions represent something more severe. “What that is, is an armed assault on the U.S. government,” she stated. “If there’s a legal dispute as to whether or not you are allowed in a U.S. government building and you cast that aside and say, ‘we’ve got guns,’ and that’s the grounds on which we’re coming in… that is an armed assault on a U.S. government office.”
Maddow didn’t stop there. She explained that the situation was so concerning that it went beyond a simple legal dispute: “That’s a break-in, that’s ‘call the cops’ territory, that’s ‘barricade the doors’ territory.”
The events prompted Maddow to question DOGE’s growing power. “Did they have an army?” she asked. “I mean, if the president has given his top campaign donor the ability to use physical force, the ability to use the force of arms against other parts of the U.S. government, we are in a different place than we thought we were.”
Maddow ended her segment by emphasizing the need for vigilance, warning that the situation could be escalating beyond control.
Watch the segment below from MSNBC:
