As reported by CNN: “Personnel from the Department of Government Efficiency, accompanied by DC police officers, gained access to the US Institute of Peace Monday after being turned away last week.”
“We had not expected that the FBI would succeed in enlisting the support and collaboration of the District of Columbia police, with whom we have had a great relationship,” Moose said. “Somehow, FBI has managed to convince the DC police that this is a building that is owned by the US government and not by the US Institute of Peace.”
“The administration fired most of USIP’s board on Friday and its three remaining members – Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and National Defense University President Peter Garvin – said they were installing Kenneth Jackson as acting USIP president.”
“USIP does not see that appointment as legal. The institute, which works to resolve conflict, is not a federal agency. It was created by Congress as a nonpartisan, independent body in 1984, and USIP owns and manages its headquarters.”
A federal judge denied a request Wednesday by the institute to stop the takeover, saying it was “difficult to determine whether the Trump administration’s actions were lawful. The judge said a fundamental question remains as to whether the institute, which works to prevent violent conflicts abroad, is an independent agency or part of the executive branch.”