The Trump administration said the United States Institute of Peace (USIP) is on the “right path” to enforce the president’s executive actions after a judge ruled in the administration’s favor following the office’s standoff with a Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) team.
“The ruling by a U.S. District Court affirms the President’s clear authority to appoint and remove board members, ensuring that the U.S. Institute of Peace (USIP) operates in alignment with executive directives,” a Trump administration official told Fox News Digital on Thursday following the order. “This decision reinforces the President’s commitment to accountability, transparency, and effective governance.”
District Judge Beryl Howell on Wednesday denied a request from the USIP to grant a temporary restraining order that claimed DOGE committed “literal trespass and takeover by force … of the Institute’s headquarters building on Constitution Avenue.”
The USIP lawsuit sought “the immediate intervention of this Court to stop Defendants from completing the unlawful dismantling of the Institute and irreparably impairing Plaintiffs’ ability to perform their vital peace promotion and conflict resolution work as tasked by Congress.”
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The USIP is an independent, national institution funded by Congress that was established in 1984 under the Reagan administration to promote peace and diplomacy on the international stage. The institute hit national headlines recently after the Trump administration fired 11 of its 14 board members after the government-funded office failed to comply with a Trump executive order from February requiring it to reduce its size to the statutory minimum.
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“President Trump signed an executive order to reduce USIP to its statutory minimum,” White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly said. “After noncompliance, 11 board members were lawfully removed, and remaining board members appointed Kenneth Jackson acting president.”
The remaining board members include Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and National Defense University President Peter Garvin, who on Friday fired the acting president and CEO of the institute, George Moose.
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Moose is a Clinton-era diplomat who served as assistant secretary of state for African affairs during the Rwandan genocide in 1994. The board replaced Moose with Kenneth Jackson, a State Department official, as acting president.
Jackson and a DOGE team attempted to enter the Institute of Peace’s building in Washington, D.C., over the weekend, but were denied access by employees of the institute, an administration official told Fox News Digital.
The standoff heightened on Monday, when Jackson and the DOGE team again attempted to gain entry to the building, while Moose accused them of breaking into the building.
The Metropolitan Police Department reported it had received a call from the U.S. Attorney’s Office at about 4 p.m. that day regarding an ongoing incident at the institute and reported to the scene.
“MPD members met with the acting USIP President, and he provided the MPD members with documentation that he was the acting USIP President, with all powers delegated by the USIP Board of Directors to that role,” the police department said in a news release of Monday’s incident. “The acting USIP President advised MPD members that there were unauthorized individuals inside of the building that were refusing to leave and refusing to provide him access to the facility.”
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“MPD members went to the USIP building and contacted an individual who allowed MPD members inside of the building,” the release stated. “Once inside of the building, the acting USIP President requested that all the unauthorized individuals inside of the building leave.”
Jackson was able to enter the building upon police intervention. Moose left the building without incident and no arrests were made, police said.
“With Mr. Jackson lawfully appointed as Acting President, USIP is now on the right path to fully comply with the President’s February 19th Executive Order and uphold its responsibility to the American people,” the administration official told Fox Digital on Thursday.
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White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said during Wednesday’s news conference that staffers physically barricaded themselves in the building.
“There was a concerted effort amongst the rogue bureaucrats at the United States Institute of Peace to actually physically barricade themselves essentially inside of the building to prevent political appointees of this administration who work at the direction of the president of the United States to get into the building,” she said.
“They barricaded the doors. They also disabled telephone lines, internet connections and other IT infrastructure within the building. They distributed fliers internally, encouraging each other to basically prevent these individuals from accessing the building,” Leavitt continued. “It’s a resistance from bureaucrats who don’t want to see change in this city. President Trump was elected on an overwhelming mandate to seek change and implement change. And this is unacceptable behavior.”
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A similar standoff recently occurred between DOGE and the U.S. African Development Foundation when bureaucrats barred the acting head of the U.S. Agency for International Development, Peter Marocco, and DOGE members from the building. The foundation is an independent government agency established in 1980 by Congress to support “African-owned and African-led enterprises,” according to its website.
U.S. African Development Foundation President Ward Brehm, who was fired by the administration earlier this month, subsequently filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration, asking a district court to bar the administration from removing him from his position.
A federal judge denied Brehm’s request. Marocco was named acting chairman of the U.S. African Development Foundation’s board.
