Police body cam footage shows DOGE knew Institute of Peace was private property during raid

[Nevilledog]

https://www.thehandbasket.co/p/body-cam-footage-usip-doge-raid-mpd-lawsuit

On Monday, the DC Metropolitan Police released the nearly six hours of body camera footage taken by their officers on March 17, 2025 when DOGE raided the United States Institute of Peace (USIP). This was as a direct result of my Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the department, in which I was represented by Allyson Veile and Adam Marshall of Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press.

In a DC court hearing last month, Judge Darlene Soltys ruled on the spot that the department had to make available all the footage from that day, despite their months of objecting to do so. The defense argued there were privacy concerns for the individuals featured in the video, but when Judge Soltys asked for a specific example to illustrate this concern, they couldn’t produce any. “I'm not going to just accept a generic representation that gives them a blanket disclosure for every word that they uttered,” Judge Soltys said. She also said “the withholding of this much of the footage is unjustified when the statute prohibits redacting the officers' likenesses, and the District has yet to identify any specific dangers,” per the court transcript we requested and obtained.

I’ve spent the last few days carefully reviewing all of the footage and taking copious notes on moments big and small, but my main takeaway is this: The people representing the Trump administration knew they were entering a privately-owned building, and the DC MPD allowed them to enter despite that fact.

From the footage it’s clear that the team sent to take over USIP consisted of Kenneth Jackson, the Trump-installed new President; Laken Rapier, who identified herself as a USAID staffer who would be serving as Jackson’s Chief-of-Staff; DOGE workers Nate Cavanaugh and Justin Fox; and DOGE lawyer Justin Aimonetti. (“They’re pretty young,” one officer could be heard saying of DOGE at one point.) They were let in a side entrance by MPD, who had been called there by both the USIP staffers who believed Trump’s people were trespassing, and by Trump’s people who believed the USIP staffers were remaining in the building unlawfully.

*snip*

[yellow dahlia]

1. This story really irks me. So many do!

I watched it play out a year ago and was apoplectic. '

Stealing a beautiful privately owned building and kicking apart a special agency - independent, but created by Congress.

And now they have hijacked the building for their dubious (polite word for it) Board of Peace.

So much destruction needs repair and restoration.

[obamanut2012]

2. Kudos to indie journalist Marisa Kabas

For getting this footage.

[Solly Mack]

3. ...