Earlier this year, Townhall reported how staff members with the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) entered the U.S. Institute of Peace (USIP) after a standoff.
The DOGE staffers were escorted by armed police officers. USIP, a private entity, is funded and controlled by the federal government. This “takeover by force” instigated a lawsuit, which was amplified by the fact that DOGE gutted hundreds of staffers from the agency.
This week, there was an update with the lawsuit.
According to several reports, a federal judge ruled against the Trump administration’s efforts to take over USIP.
In Judge Beryl Howell’s ruling on Monday in US District Court in Washington, D.C., she ordered the reinstatement of USIP’s acting president, George Moose, calling those who replaced him “illegitimately installed.”
That’s not all. Howell wrote that the administration’s “severe actions to dissemble USIP, including terminating its appointed Board members, its expert management, its dedicated staff and contractors located in both Washington, D.C. and around the world, and dispersing its assets and headquarters building … were unlawful.”
“Congress’s restrictions on the President’s removal power of USIP Board members are squarely constitutional,” she added, including that the Trump administration used force and “threats of criminal process” to enter DOGE.
JUST IN: Judge Howell rules that the Trump/DOGE takeover of the U.S. Institute of Peace was illegal and should be treated as null and void.https://t.co/gkeXfkQ2XH pic.twitter.com/12eFcksRFN
— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) May 19, 2025
“The President has no constitutional removal authority outside of the Executive branch. President Trump’s removal of the ten board members here was thus unlawful,” she added.
USIP reacted in a statement, saying that the agency “has worked to spread peace and stability around the world.”
“Today’s ruling allows USIP to continue that work,” the group said, adding that its “board, management, and staff look forward to restarting USIP’s programs.”
At the beginning of his term, Trump deemed USIP (and a slew of other agencies) as “unnecessary.” These agencies were among the first on the DOGE chopping block.
Previously, the USIP wiped a terabyte of data surrounding its finances when DOGE began its probe into the agency. Elon Musk, who spearheaded DOGE, confirmed this on X.
“They deleted a terabyte of financial data to cover their crimes, but they don’t understand technology, so we recovered it,” Musk wrote.
They deleted a terabyte of financial data to cover their crimes, but they don’t understand technology, so we recovered it 🙄
— Kekius Maximus (@elonmusk) April 1, 2025
That’s not all. The official DOGE X account posted a list of USIP contracts that were cancelled. This included a $132,000 to Mohammad Qasem Halimi, an ex-Taliban member who was Afghanistan's former Chief of Protocol. Additionally, this included $2,232,500 to an outside accountant who tried to wipe the data. This data was recovered.
Each year, the United States Institute of Peace (USIP) receives $55M in congressional (taxpayer) funds.
— Department of Government Efficiency (@DOGE) March 31, 2025
- Prior management would sweep excess funds into its private Endowment (zero congressional oversight).
-In the past 10 years, USIP has transferred ~$13M to its private…