Trump Moves to Install Personal International Body in Seized Peace Institute

A $500 million building at the center of Washington DC has become the unlikely battleground for a legal fight that raises fundamental questions about government overreach and the privatization of public assets.

The US Institute of Peace (USIP), an independent nonprofit created by Congress, has been locked in a court battle with the Trump administration since March 2025, when members of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) forcibly entered its headquarters and the administration fired most of its board.

From Hostile Takeover to Personal Empire

The sequence of events reads like a corporate thriller. Despite USIP being an independent entity—not a federal agency—Trump issued an executive order attempting to shut it down. When a court ruled in May that the takeover was unlawful, an appeals court issued a stay in June, returning control to the administration while the case proceeds.

By December, the building bore a new name: the Donald J. Trump Institute of Peace, with the president's name literally etched into its facade. But according to a letter sent to the Department of Justice by USIP's former leadership, this was just the beginning.

A Ten-Year Lease and Mysterious Renovations

The letter alleges that USIP's current acting president has signed a ten-year memorandum of understanding with the State Department, allowing hundreds of State Department employees to move into the building. Under this arrangement, USIP would bear the costs of building maintenance and security while indemnifying the State Department against property damage.

Construction is already underway to accommodate the influx of new occupants, according to the letter. But which State Department staff would occupy the space remains unclear—until you consider a presentation given by Jared Kushner at the World Economic Forum.

Kushner, who holds no formal government position, outlined plans for a new "Board of Peace" to oversee Gaza's reconstruction. The final slide of his presentation? An image of the USIP building.

When Public Assets Meet Private Ambitions

The Board of Peace, as described, would operate under Trump's personal lifetime control—not as a US government entity, but as an international organization answerable to the president himself. This raises unprecedented questions about the use of congressionally funded facilities for what appears to be a private venture.

"The government does not have a license to rename the USIP headquarters building or lease it out for 10 years," says George Foote, counsel for the fired USIP leadership. "It certainly has no right to open the building to a new international organization like the proposed Board of Peace."

The legal team is also concerned about USIP's endowment being used to fund renovations that would benefit the State Department lease, effectively using donor money for government purposes.