Trump Allowed to Remove African Development Group’s Leaders (1)

The Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency escaped claims that it illegally tried to remove the US African Development Foundation’s leadership and shut the organization down.

Ward Brehm’s lawsuit challenging his removal as president of the USADF was dismissed Tuesday by Judge Richard J. Leon of the US District Court for the District of Columbia. Brehm couldn’t challenge his removal because he was never lawfully president of the group, the George W. Bush-appointed judge said.

The ruling comes as another victory against Brehm after Leon declined to enjoin DOGE from its re-structuring efforts within USADF in March.

Congress created the foundation to support and invest in African-owned enterprises, Leon said. It has a seven-member board appointed by the president, with the advice and consent of the senate, he said.

The president may select the chairperson and vice chairperson from the board members, Leon said. The board may then appoint its own president, he said.

A few days after taking office, President Donald Trump signed an executive order intended to dramatically reduce the size of the federal government, Leon said. At the time, the foundation had only five members on its board, he said.

The White House notified Brehm on Feb. 24, that the board was terminated effective immediately. The emails to the other board members were misdelivered and not received. On Feb. 28, the White House contacted USADF’s chief financial officer and told him that Trump appointed Pete Marocco to be the acting chairperson of USADF, Leon said.

After consulting with the board, the CFO said that the board wouldn’t recognize Marocco, because he was appointed without the advice and consent of the Senate, Leon said. On March 3, the board members met and appointed Brehm president of USADF, he said.

Marocco fired Brehm on March 6 and appointed himself as president of USADF, Leon said.

Brehm sued, saying that Trump’s appointment of Marocco was beyond his authority and violated the separation of powers. He also said that his firing violated the Administrative Procedure Act.

The president can remove USADF board members with proper notice, Leon said. Though the board didn’t receive the original removal emails, they knew about their removals when the CFO told them, he said.

Because Trump removed the board prior to Brehm’s appointment, Brehm wasn’t lawfully appointed and his removal claims fail, Leon said.

Nor can Brehm pursue his claim that the Trump’s appointment of Marocco was ultra vires, Leon said. Brehm wasn’t lawfully the president of USADF, didn’t have entitlement to that position, didn’t suffer an injury-in-fact, and therefore lacked standing to pursue the claim, he said.

Brehm’s APA claim failed because he didn’t “identify a final agency action fo the Court to review—let alone proffer an injury that stems from such action,” Leon said.

Democracy Forward Foundation represented Brehm. The US Department of Justice represented the government defendants.

The case is Brehm v. Marocco, 2025 BL 200282, D.D.C., No. 1:25-CV-00660-RJL, 6/10/25.