What the fuck is this? [Wired]: Federal Judge Allows DOGE to Take Over $500 Million Office Building for Free
It’s the culmination of a weeks-long standoff between Elon Musk’s DOGE team and the United States Institute of Peace.
https://www.wired.com/story/judge-approves-doge-usip-office-building/
#DOGE Is Trying to Gift Itself a $500 Million Building, Court Filings Show
Documents show DOGE is attempting to transfer headquarters of an independent #thinktank, #UnitedStates Institute of Peace, to gov at no cost.
Tensions at #USIP have been escalating for weeks, starting when Trump administration fired agency’s 10 voting board members and USIP staffers denied DOGE representatives access. As of Friday, most USIP staffers have been terminated.
https://www.wired.com/story/doge-takes-control-usip-office-building/
https://archive.ph/8GaWL
#DOGE Is Trying to Gift Itself a $500 Million Building, Court Filings Show
The documents reveal a DOGE affiliate is attempting to transfer the headquarters of an #independent think tank, the United States Institute of Peace, to the government at no cost.
#takeover #usip #thinktank #Musk
https://www.wired.com/story/doge-takes-control-usip-office-building/
Documents reveal a DOGE affiliate is attempting to transfer the headquarters of an independent think tank, the United States Institute of Peace, to the government at no cost.
https://www.wired.com/story/doge-takes-control-usip-office-building/ #DOGE #Trump #Musk #USIP #Government #Politics
The #DOGE-affiliated acting pres. of the USIP, a Congress. funded, indep think tank, has moved to transfer the agency’s $500M HQs bldg to the GSA free of chg.
Tensions at #USIP: escalating -Trump admin fired the agency’s 10 voting board mems on Mar 14 & staffers denied DOGE reps access. Mar 31: most staffers were term.
DOGE forced out the directors/staff of a nonexec agency, installed a GSA staffer as pres. -now attempting to hand the inst's HQs to GSA.
#USPol #Fascism https://www.wired.com/story/doge-takes-control-usip-office-building/
Remember when #DOGE broke into the US Institute of Peace (#USIP), which is actually a nonprofit, not a government agency? It turns out that they wanted to steal the building for themselves https://www.wired.com/story/doge-takes-control-usip-office-building/
#USIP’s building is privately owned by the institute & paid for through the institute’s endowment, 2 employees said, unlike its overseas programs & staff salaries, which are paid through federal funds appropriated by #Congress. “So to me this seems like the most egregious violation of the #law,” said one employee.
[Prior to this] A federal judge had condemned the process through which the #Trump admin seized control of USIP but declined a motion for a #TRO.
The termination emails were riddled w/mistakes — w/employees’ names, the month of April & even the institute’s title misspelled in places — a telling sign of the rushed & haphazard nature of the operation….
By Saturday morning, the terminated #USIP headquarters staff were already discussing filing a class-action lawsuit & were debating whether to sign their termination documents.
In the latest action, employees were instructed to sign a 4-pg letter ordering them to return all #USIP property while agreeing to forgo all future claims against the institute. It ordered them not to disclose any terms of the agreement in exchange for 1 month of #HealthInsurance & a monthly stipend paid for an unspecified period. Those who refuse to sign, the letter said, will lose all #benefits as of Monday.
…#USIP & members of its fired board filed a lawsuit, naming #DOGE & its reps, #Trump & members of his Cabinet. The suit claims the #ExecutiveBranch had no authority to dismiss the leadership & staff of the institute because it was created by the #LegislativeBranch [#Congress], nor could it take over USIP’s privately owned HQ building. Briefs in the case are scheduled during April, with a hearing near the end of the month.
The #USIP has a total staff of about 600 people in offices worldwide. It is actively involved in negotiating #peace deals & helping #war-torn countries & regions to implement peace settlements & rebuild, including in the #Philippines, sub-Saharan #Africa & #Ukraine.
“We put mediators in place to help stitch these communities back together,” said one employee. “So it does have a dramatic effect on #violence on the ground immediately by just pulling these assets out.”
#USIP employees told WaPo that 200–300 people — nearly the entirety of USIP’s HQ staff — had been fired. The employees, who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of #retribution from the #Trump admin, said some employees were offered severance & one additional month of health insurance, in exchange for their signatures to WAIVE their RIGHTS to sue.
#Musk / #DOGE fires nearly all staff at US Institute of #Peace HQ
The #Trump admin summarily fired the staff of the #USIP late Friday night, <2wks after forcibly removing the congressionally funded org’s president & installing in his place an agent of #tech billionaire #ElonMusk’s DOGE….
#law #USpol #TrumpCoup #TrumpPurge #democracy #diplomacy #fascism #tyranny
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2025/03/29/doge-usip-peace-institute-fired/
In advance of a first session, a therapist asked me to do a conflict management style questionnaire hosted on the #USIP website.
But I guess one of the Musk Youth got into the server room.
Nobody home this morning at the United States Institute of Peace web site.
Sabotage masquerading as patriotism.
Exhibit #12,273,493
"USIP filed a motion for a temporary restraining order...
But the most telling moment of the hearing...
She pointed out how eagerly law enforcement has been to aid in DOGE’s hostile takeover, implying #USIP would be outgunned. It was a stunning admission in a court of #law, & revealed the palpable fear that enforcing the law would lead directly to #violence."
https://www.thehandbasket.co/p/us-institute-of-peace-break-in
The Trump administration's 'assault' on Peace
https://www.thehandbasket.co/p/us-institute-of-peace-break-in
"Members of #Doge broke into the #WashingtonDC HQ of the #UnitedStates Institute of #Peace (USIP) on Monday in a foreboding act of #violence.
The independent nonprofit institute is not a federal agency...
#USIP owns their building... but that didn’t stop DOGE...
#Trump has no jurisdiction over this organization, but he sicced his goons on them anyway."
Zoom In On This
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/zoom-in-on-this
"DOGE went to the private #security contractor working for #USIP ...said, you don’t have a clear #legal or ethical ability to do this. But if you don’t want to lose all your federal contracts, you have to. And they did...
There are a lot of very large federal security contractors who wield #violence & force on behalf of the #US govt... those contractors are also extremely vulnerable to #DOGE because DOGE can make contracts disappear"
DOGE Strong-Armed USIP Security Contractors to Switch Sides
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/breaking-doge-strong-armed-usip-security-contractors-to-switch-sides
"“DOGE threatened to cancel every federal contract Inter-Con [USIP's security] held if they did not... let Kenneth Jackson [the purported new head of the Institute] inside.”
How big a threat was that? According to USASpending, Inter-Con has $209 million in #government contractors currently. So it sounds like #DOGE made them an offer they couldn’t refuse."
