Trump eyes disputed DC building for new Board of Peace
The Trump administration considers housing its new Board of Peace in a Washington building seized from a nonprofit think tank, sparking legal challenges.
By MATTHEW LEE, AP Diplomatic Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration wants to house its new Board of Peace in a Washington building that remains tied up in federal court after the government seized it from a nonprofit think tank and fired nearly all its staff.
Four administration officials said Thursday the former U.S. Institute of Peace building has become the subject of serious internal discussions, though no final decision has been made about where the board’s administrative staff will operate.
The building seizure last year triggered a lawsuit from former employees and executives of the nonprofit think tank. A federal judge ruled the takeover illegal, finding that the U.S. Institute of Peace operates as an independent organization established by Congress and cannot be controlled by the executive branch.
The government renamed the facility the Donald J. Trump U.S. Institute of Peace, but enforcement of the court ruling was suspended pending an appeal.
“A stay is not permission for the loser of a case to hijack the property of the winning party,” said George Foote, counsel for former USIP leadership and staff. “The government does not have a license to rename the USIP headquarters building or lease it out for ten years.”
Foote added the government “certainly has no right to open the building to a new international organization like the proposed Board of Peace.”
Speculation about the building’s future intensified after the administration used the Board of Peace logo over an image of the institute’s distinctive domed headquarters during Trump’s announcement at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland last week.
The Board of Peace currently includes 27 founding members made up of world leaders tasked with overseeing Trump’s Gaza ceasefire plan. But the board’s charter indicates broader ambitions to address and resolve other global conflicts.
Many top U.S. allies in Europe and elsewhere have declined to join what they view as a potential rival to the U.N. Security Council.
The administration officials who discussed the building plans spoke on condition of anonymity because internal deliberations remain ongoing.