Federal judge rules DOGE, Trump admin were ‘unlawful’ in takeover of US Institute of Peace

US District Judge Beryl Howard said that "the removal of USIP's president, his replacement by officials affiliated with DOGE, the termination of nearly all of USIP's staff, and the transfer of USIP property to the General Services Administration" (GSA) were "effectuated by illegitimately-installed leaders who lacked legal authority to take these actions, which must therefore be declared null and void."

She said that acting president George Moose would continue in that role and said that DOGE was prevented from "further trespass against the real and personal property belonging to the Institute and its employees, contractors, agents, and other representatives."

In March, Howell had rejected the request by USIP to block DOGE from accessing the building after USIP claimed it was unlawful for DOGE employees to go into the building. USIP staff said they suffered a “literal trespass and takeover by force” by DOGE staffers.

Ahead of Howell's ruling, DOGE has said that "Mr. Moose denied lawful access to Kenneth Jackson, the Acting USIP President (as approved by the USIP Board). @DCPoliceDept arrived onsite and escorted Mr. Jackson into the building. The only unlawful individual was Mr. Moose, who refused to comply, and even tried to fire USIP’s private security team when said security team went to give access to Mr. Jackson." This was the beginning of the case brought by USIP against DOGE.

USIP was founded to be an "independent think tank that carries out its own international peace research, education and training, and information services," Howell said in her current ruling. She also alleged that DOGE sought to shut it down by using "blunt force, backed up by law enforcement officers from three separate local and federal agencies."

DOGE dug into USIP, finding that the agency got $55 million per year in taxpayer funds, that any excess funds would be swept into its private endowment of which there was no congressional oversight, and that over the past decade, USIP has absconded with $13 million in taxpayer money that went directly into that endowment.

Those funds were used for "mainly private events and travel," DOGE said. DOGE cancelled contracts that USIP had spearheaded, including:

• $132,000 to Mohammad Qasem Halimi, an ex-Taliban member who was Afghanistan's former Chief of Protocol.
• $2,232,500 to its outside Accountant, who attempted to delete over 1 terabyte of accounting data (now recovered) after new leadership entered the building
• $1,307,061 to the Al Tadhamun Iraqi League for Youth
• $675,000 for private aviation services

The White House offered their own determination following Howell's ruling, saying, "The United States Institute of Peace has existed for 40 years on a $50 million annual budget, but failed to deliver peace. President Trump is right to reduce failed, useless entities like USIP to their statutory minimum, and this rogue judge’s attempt to impede on the separation of powers will not be the last say on the matter."

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