Lawmakers and legal experts are warning the Trump administration’s efforts to shutter the government’s foreign assistance agency is unconstitutional and is likely to face challenges in court.

Over the weekend, agents of the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) entered the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) facility. Staff started getting shut out of internal systems Sunday and were told not to come into the headquarters at the Ronald Reagan Building on Monday.

Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, who leads DOGE, said his team took a “wood chipper” to USAID over the weekend. He has for days railed against USAID on his social media platform X and levied accusations of corruption against the independent agency that has provided humanitarian and development assistance to countries around the world for more than 60 years.

“We don't have a fourth branch of government called Elon Musk, and that's going to become real clear," said Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) at a press conference with other Democratic lawmakers outside USAID headquarters. “This illegal, unconstitutional interference with congressional power is threatening lives all over the world.”

During an event hosted on X early Monday morning, Musk said that USAID is a “ball of worms” that is “beyond repair,” and that the president

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