The Trump Administration Forcibly Enters and Seizes Congressionally Funded Non-Profit

Mar 18, 2025

Donald Trump has been attempting to assert direct control over independent government agencies, in defiance of the congressional statutes that created them. He has extended this to the forcible entry and takeover of the U.S. Institute of Peace, a private nonprofit created by Congress that is not part of the executive branch. The seizing of this agency takes DOGE’s efforts to usurp and grab congressional power to a whole new terrifying level.

The New York Times reports:

The dramatic scene played out in Washington on Monday afternoon as Mr. Musk’s team was rebuffed from the U.S. Institute of Peace, an agency that President Trump has ordered dismantled, then entered it with law enforcement officers. Agency officials say that because the institute is a congressionally chartered nonprofit that is not part of the executive branch, Mr. Trump and Mr. Musk do not have the authority to gut its operations. …
George Moose, who was fired as the institute’s acting president last week but is challenging his dismissal, accused Mr. Musk’s team of breaking in. “Our statute is very clear about the status of this building and this institute,” he told reporters. “So what has happened here today is an illegal takeover by elements of the executive branch of a private nonprofit corporation.” …
The institute was created by Congress in 1984 and works to prevent and end conflict, deploying specialists to work with U.S. allies, training peace negotiators and diplomats and briefing Congress.

This takeover is probably illegal, but Trump is acting fast to create new facts on the ground while the courts trail slowly behind. The intent is clear: to override the will of Congress, extinguish any independent organization, and gather all power in the hands of the president.

The Executive Watch is a project of the Institute for the Study of Modern Authoritarianism, and its flagship publication The UnPopulist, to track in an ongoing way the abuses of the power of the American presidency. It sorts these abuses into five categories: Personal Grift, Political Corruption, Presidential Retribution, Power Consolidation, and Policy Illegality. Click the category of interest to get an overview of all the abuses under it.

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