AP Report: Trump eyes former Peace Institute building as new Peace Council headquarters

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration is looking to establish a new peace council, tied to the Gaza ceasefire and larger international ambitions, in a Washington building that formerly housed the U.S. Institute of Peace, according to four administration officials.

The officials, who spoke Thursday on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations, said the issue was under serious discussion, but stressed that no final decision had yet been made on the whereabouts of administrative staff on the board.

He watches: Trump presents the “Peace Council” in Gaza at the Davos Forum

The building is the subject of a lawsuit filed by former employees and executives of the nonprofit think tank after the Republican administration took over the facility last year and fired nearly all of the institute’s employees. The building has since been renamed the Donald J. Trump US Institute of Peace, but its name and status remain in legal limbo.

A federal judge had ruled that the US Institute of Peace, as an independent non-governmental organization created by Congress, was not subject to executive control and that its takeover was illegal. Implementation of this decision was suspended after the government appealed.

“A stay does not mean allowing the loser of the case to hijack the winning party’s property,” said George Foote, a leadership consultant and former staff member at USIP. “The government does not have a license to rename the USIP headquarters building or lease it for ten years.”

“It certainly does not have the right to open the building to a new international organization such as the proposed peace council,” Foote said in a statement.

Rumors that Trump planned to use the building for a peace council began spreading after the administration used the council’s logo on an image of the USIP building and its distinctive domed roof.

Read more: Trump added his name to the US Institute of Peace building while fighting the organization in court

This was demonstrated when Trump unveiled the peace council last week at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. The council currently has 27 “founding members” made up of world leaders whose primary mission is to oversee Trump’s Gaza ceasefire plan.

But Trump appears to have greater ambitions for the council, as its charter states that it will look to confront and resolve other global conflicts. Many of America’s top allies in Europe and elsewhere have refused to join what they suspect may be an attempt to rival the UN Security Council.