Performances affiliated to Eric Coke According to a recent lawsuit, the president of the Peace Institute, a congressionally funded independent think tank, has been moved to the agency’s $500 million headquarters building to the General Services Administration.
USIP tensions have escalated for weeks, from the Trump administration firing 10 voting committee members of the agency on March 14, and USIP staff members rejected the front door’s Doge delegates. Three days later, Doge employees entered the building and reportedly used the physical keys of the former security contractor. The dramatic confrontation eventually achieved a full takeover, with former State Department official Kenneth Jackson taking on the role of president. As of last Friday, most USIP staff have received termination notices.
The complaint said that since then, former USIP officials filed lawsuits against Jackson, Dorge, Donald Trump and other members of the Trump administration demanding immediate intervention to “prevent the defendant from completing the illegal demolition of the institute.” Although U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell rejected the USIP request for a temporary restraining order that would resume the institute’s board on March 19, she severely criticized Doge’s conquest in court.
Court documents filed by the defendant on Monday reveal Doge’s next phase of USIP plans. Documents show that as of March 25, Doge staffer Nate Cavanaugh (which was maturely installed on the GSA) replaced Jackson as the acting chair of the institute. They further noted that Kavanaugh was instructed to transfer USIP’s assets, including its real estate, to the GSA. The letter detailing these changes and instructions was signed by Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
Cavanaugh did not immediately respond to Wired’s request for comment. The Justice Department’s chief attorney also did not immediately respond to a request for comment in the case.
In a separate undated letter, which was also included in the batch of documents filed with the court, Cavanaugh writes to GSA acting administrator Stephen Ehikian: “I have concluded that it is in the best interest of USIP, the federal government, and the United States for USIP to transfer its real property located at 2301 Constitution Ave NW, Washington, DC 20037, to GSA and to seek an exception from the 100 percent reimbursement building demand.”
Cavanaugh continues to estimate the building’s “fair market value” of $500 million.
In another letter included in the March 29 lawsuit, Russell Vorge’s Architect’s Office and Budget Office of the 2025th Project wrote to Ehikian to approve his request “without transfer of the U.S. Peace Institute (USIP) headquarters building to set the reimbursement amount for free.”
Frankly: Doge forced directors and employees of a non-executive agency to install one of his own GSA employees as president, who is now trying to hand over the institute’s $500 million headquarters to him from his agency for zero fees.
“The effort to move buildings to GSA is part of Doge Playbook’s operation of an agent through a wood shaving agency. That’s what they are trying to do,” George Foote has long been a longtime consultant to USIP. “They are trying to kill an agency they don’t have the right to do.”
Lawyers for the former USIP staff filed a motion on Monday to prevent asset transfers. In an application against the court, the government attorney claimed: “The institute is an executive body and decided to comply with the executive order and its statutory powers to transfer its excess property to the GSA,” referring to President Donald Trump’s February EO, which is allegedly “authorized in an independent body.”
Judge Howell will decide whether to allow transfers in court on Tuesday; a broader ruling is expected to be conducted in USIP cases at the end of this month.
Other reports by Matt Giles.
