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Dems Blocked From Entering USAID Offices: ‘Illegal and Corrupt’

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Democratic members of the U.S. House and Senate were reportedly blocked on Monday from entering the Washington, D.C. offices of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), an independent agency of the U.S. government, which Congress established by law in 1961.

Elon Musk and his associates from the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) have reportedly been trying to shut the agency down, at one point even declaring, “USAID is a criminal organization. Time for it to die.” According to multiple sources and experts, only Congress can eliminate a government agency it created, including this one.

“So you are aware, this agency is very busy currently, and they are not able to take a meeting currently,” an unidentified person who appeared to be speaking for USAID told members of Congress and others who tried to enter the agency’s offices, an Associated Press video shows. “They advised that they will be in contact shortly, and that best to contact the Department of State at this time if you need any further comments.”

The AP also reported that USAID staffers “were instructed to stay out of the agency’s Washington headquarters, and officers blocked the lawmakers from entering the lobby Monday, after Musk announced President Donald Trump had agreed with him to shut the agency.”

RELATED: ‘Do We Have a King?’ Trump and Musk’s Moves Signal ‘Constitutional Crisis,’ Experts Warn

Some experts say that the president does not have legal authority to do so.

“The fast moving developments,” the AP added, “show the extraordinary power of Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency in the Trump administration. Musk announced closing of the agency early Monday, as Trump’s secretary of state, Marco Rubio, was out of the country on a trip to Central America.”

Secretary Rubio announced that USAID would be folded into the U.S. Department of State, a move that is likely to be challenged in court.

“Democratic lawmakers gathered outside the agency building for a rally and press conference and gave the most forceful pushback since Trump took office last month. They said they expected a flurry of lawsuits to be issued in the coming days against the Trump administration,” the AP also reported.

Preventing duly elected members of Congress from accessing a federal government office was met with frustration and disapproval.

“Our delegation seeking to do congressional oversight on reports of Elon Musk’s illegal activity at USAID was just barred from entering the building on the orders of Musk and the Trump Administration. Nobody elected Musk — this is illegal and corrupt and we will keep fighting it,” declared U.S. Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA).

Aaron Fritschner, Congressman Beyer’s deputy chief of staff, posted a photo (below) of their attempt to enter and wrote: “USAID is one of the most cost-effective agencies we have. Their money goes 10-20 times as far as DOD money to project US influence, including vs China. They fight terrorism, hunger, and diseases like Ebola and bird flu. Rich guys are playing us for suckers.”

“Hollywood could not have written a crueler script,” commented Brett Bruen, former Obama White House Director of Global Engagement. “The world’s richest man cuts off lifesaving food & medicine to the world’s poorest.”

READ MORE: ‘Check Out Schoolhouse Rock’: JD Vance Schooled on How Government Works

U.S. Senator Andy Kim (D-NJ) explained that his first job in government was at USAID. “Now seeing the security guards there, instructed to ban and bar USAID employees from getting in today, is absolutely shameful.”

U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT) passionately defended USAID, declaring that it “fights terrorist groups all across this world, making sure that we address the underlying causes for a retreat to terrorism. USAID chases China all around the world, making sure that China doesn’t monopolize contracts for critical minerals and port infrastructure all around the world. It supports freedom fighters everywhere in this world, up until yesterday, delivering firewood, for instance, to the brave Ukrainian defenders on the eastern front.”

U.S. Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA) vowed to fight “every way we can.”

USAID “is the lead development agency in the world and no one elected Elon Musk to dismantle it,” Congressman Connolly declared. “We are gonna fight in every way we can. In the courts, in public opinion with the bully pulpit in the halls of Congress and here at USAID itself, we are not going to let this injustice happen.”

“It’s a matter for Congress to deal with not an unelected billionaire oligarch than Elon Musk. And Elon, if you wanna run AD, get nominated by Trump and go to the Senate and good luck in getting confirmed.”

U.S. Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD), a former constitutional law professor, blasted Musk.

“Elon Musk, you didn’t create USAID, the United States Congress did for the American people. And just like Elon Musk did not create USAID, he doesn’t have the power to destroy it,” Raskin loudly declared, vowing Congress will “stop him.”

“Elon Musk, you may have illegally seized power over the financial payment systems of the United States Department of Treasury, but you don’t control the money of the American people, the United States Congress does that, under Article One of the Constitution. And just like the president who is elected to something, cannot impound the money of the people, we don’t have a fourth branch of government called Elon Musk, and that’s gonna become real clear.”

“This is real life, this is serious, and this is dangerous,” warned Rep. John Olszewski (D-MD). He told supporters that Democrats in Congress will do all they can, but they need Americans to act.

Watch the videos above or at this link.

READ MORE: Former Trump Surgeon General Sounds Alarm on President’s Actions Amid Disease Outbreaks

 

Image via Reuters

 

 

 

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‘Lying’ Samuel Alito Is a ‘Coward’: Elections Expert

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April 30, 2026

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Professor of Law Richard Hasen, an elections law expert, is denouncing Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito as a “coward” who is either lying to himself or the American public, after authoring what has been called the “earthquake” decision in Louisiana v. Callais, which sharply erodes the Voting Rights Act.

Alito’s “disastrous” majority opinion in Callais “essentially gutted what remains of the Voting Rights Act,” but he “claims to have done no such thing. The question is why,” Hasen posits.

Hasen charges that Justice Alito was too “afraid” to share his actual opinion, and so he found ways to “get away with overturning Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act through technical minutiae rather than through a direct hit.”

Section 2, passed in 1965, is the provision of the Voting Rights Act that protects minority voters from discriminatory voting laws and maps.

Hasen argues that Alito’s opinions in both Callais and Brnovich v. Democratic National Committee “necessarily imply” that “Congress cannot do anything to protect minority voting rights short of banning intentional discrimination despite the 14th Amendment’s equal protection guarantee, despite the 15th Amendment’s ban on race discrimination in voting, and despite the fact that both amendments explicitly give Congress the power to enforce the measures by ‘appropriate legislation.'”

READ MORE: Trump Attacks ‘Very Disloyal’ GOP Senator — Calls for Him to Lose Primary

He notes that Alito managed to render Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act “essentially toothless,” while leaving the six-decade-old landmark law on the books.

“Since Brnovich,” he writes, “no plaintiffs have brought successful suits under Section 2 challenging a law alleged to suppress votes.”

Indeed, Alito’s opinions in both cases are “extreme overkill,” handing states “multiple pathways” to defeat a Section 2 claim.

Hasen explains that for Alito, “to discriminate against Louisiana Democrats is not to discriminate against Louisiana’s Black voters, despite the overwhelming overlap between the two groups.”

But for Hasen, the most “galling” issue is that Alito “goes out of his way to disclaim he is making radical change while putting multiple stakes through the heart of Section 2.”

He offers some possibilities of why Alito has acted in this way.

“Maybe Alito is worried that a ruling forthrightly saying what he is doing would sully the reputation of the court, which has already faced public criticism for killing off another key part of the Voting Rights Act in 2013’s Shelby County decision,” Hasen writes. “Perhaps he is worried that a frontal kill of Section 2 would energize Democrats, leading to greater losses for Republicans in the midterm elections and in future elections.”

Regardless, Hasen concludes, no one “is fooled by Justice Alito’s act of cowardice, unless it is Justice Alito himself. If that’s the case, he is more deluded than he seems to think the rest of us are.”

READ MORE: Trump Stalls J6 Lawsuits From Officers and Lawmakers With Immunity Push: Report

 

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Trump Attacks ‘Very Disloyal’ GOP Senator — Calls for Him to Lose Primary

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April 30, 2026

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In a double-barreled attack, President Donald Trump has targeted a two-term sitting Republican U.S. Senator, calling for him to be voted out during the GOP primary — which is tight and barely weeks away — while criticizing him for his vote on impeachment and his opposition to the president’s pick for Surgeon General.

Calling U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy (R-LA) “a very disloyal person” who won election thanks to his endorsement, the president blasted him for his Senate vote to convict him “on what has now proven to be a total Hoax and Scam.”

Accusing Cassidy of “intransigence and political games,” Trump charged that he has “stood in the way of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s Nominee, Casey Means, for the important position of U.S. Surgeon General.”

Just sixteen days before the GOP primary, Trump did not hold back.

“Hopefully all of the Great Republican People of Louisiana, which I won, BIG, three times, will be voting Bill Cassidy OUT OF OFFICE in the upcoming Republican Primary!”

READ MORE: Trump Stalls J6 Lawsuits From Officers and Lawmakers With Immunity Push: Report

According to The Hill, Senator Cassidy is currently polling behind two of his GOP primary challengers among likely Republican voters.

Cassidy got just 21 percent support, U.S. Rep. Julia Letlow received 27 percent, and state treasurer John Fleming received 28 percent, according to an Emerson poll. Although Trump endorsed Congresswoman Letlow in January, she has yet to pull into the lead.

In 2021, Cassidy was one of just seven Republican senators who voted to convict Trump for inciting the January 6 attack on the Capitol. Of the seven, just three are currently serving: Cassidy, Susan Collins, and Lisa Murkowski.

Minutes after his attack, Trump announced his nomination of Fox News contributor Dr. Nicole B. Saphier to become Surgeon General, after calling Means “a strong MAHA Warrior” who “understands the MAHA Movement better than anyone, with perhaps the possible exception of ME!”

READ MORE: Trump Running Out of Options in $83 Million Case After Court Rejects Rehearing Bid

 

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Trump Stalls J6 Lawsuits From Officers and Lawmakers With Immunity Push: Report

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7 hours ago

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April 30, 2026

By

President Donald Trump is holding up lawsuits from police officers and Democratic lawmakers suing in federal court by pursuing immunity claims, Bloomberg News reports. The plaintiffs say he bears legal responsibility for inciting the January 6, 2021 riots at the U.S. Capitol.

Trump is appealing a March decision by a federal judge who rejected his bid to have the cases thrown out.

The president’s personal attorneys are also arguing that he should not be required to submit any information, documents, or evidence to the plaintiffs until his immunity appeal is resolved — a position that, if granted, could extend the litigation by years even if Trump loses.

U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta has repeatedly rejected Trump’s immunity claims. Because Judge Mehta ruled that Trump was not acting in his official capacity, the Justice Department was denied its request to become the defendant in place of Trump.

Last month, Politico reported, Judge Mehta ruled that Trump’s January 6 speech at the Ellipse was a political act and therefore not eligible for immunity. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled presidents have broad criminal immunity for official acts.

“President Trump has not shown that the Speech reasonably can be understood as falling within the outer perimeter of his Presidential duties,” Mehta wrote. “The content of the Ellipse Speech confirms that it is not covered by official-acts immunity.”

Politico also reported that the appeals process will likely generate years of additional litigation, keeping the cases alive through the end of Trump’s presidency.

READ MORE: Trump Running Out of Options in $83 Million Case After Court Rejects Rehearing Bid

 

Image via Reuters 

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