Who keeps a broken agency's $13M endowment?

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4 days ago

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In recent years, CHESTER CROCKER, a former RONALD REAGAN official, has contributed about $40,000 to the private endowment of the U.S. Institute of Peace, the independent agency focused on promoting international conflict resolution, where he once served as board chair.
When DOGE entered the organization this year, it sent the entirety of the organization's $13 million private endowment — which counts as donors individuals like Crocker and massive companies like Chevron — to the Treasury Department, according to a DOGE social media post, a copy of the Treasury receipt viewed by POLITICO, and four people familiar with the matter and granted anonymity to discuss it.
DOGE, on X, said the money was 'taxpayer dollars' to justify their authority over it. Crocker sees it far differently — and went to court in April to stop it.
'The fact of the matter is that those were private donations, and they were made for a specific set of purposes: in support of USIP activities and programs,' Crocker said in an interview. 'The idea of my contribution helping to support illegal ICE roundups in the streets of Los Angeles doesn't fill me with a sense of pride.'
Their lawsuit is stayed for the time being, and the transfer — overseen by USIP president and DOGE staffer NATE CAVANAUGH, according to three of the people — raises questions from USIP allies about whether DOGE had the legal authority to move the money without a court order.
'Crocker is a donor to the Endowment of USIP, who specifically pledged money to USIP for supporting a permanent named conference room at USIP headquarters and peacebuilding activities on campus,' the lawsuit reads.
Neither Cavanaugh nor the White House responded to a request for comment.
GEORGE FOOTE, who represents USIP employees in their separate lawsuit filed in April against the Trump administration over its employee terminations, said Cavanaugh 'didn't have any court authority to confiscate $13 million of USIP corporate property.'
'He had no corporate right to take that money and give it back to the government,' Foote added. 'There's no legal basis for that.'
In addition to the endowment, USIP receives roughly $55 million from taxpayers. Former USIP spokesperson LIZ CALLIHAN said that the base funding from Congress and the money from the private endowment were 'never mixed.'
The Heritage Foundation, which wrote many white papers that the Trump administration has echoed in its policies, wrote in September that USIP 'is neither nonpartisan nor bipartisan as required by statute.' It called for Congress to withhold funding to the institute 'until it receives satisfactory evidence that the USIP is meeting its statutory requirements and providing the taxpayers who fund it an accounting of how their money is being spent.'
This money transfer is one of several moves DOGE officials have taken in recent months to shutter USIP. Cavanaugh on Friday terminated almost the entirety of USIP staff, more than 200 people, after the administration spent months in legal battles fighting for the ability to dismantle the agency.
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POTUS PUZZLER
When did presidents begin receiving full-time Secret Service protection?
(Answer at bottom.)
Agenda Setting
POWELL, ON THE BRINK: President DONALD TRUMP during remarks today did not rule out firing Federal Reserve Chair JEROME POWELL, whom he has criticized not lowering interest rates, but said it was 'highly unlikely' that he would do so, our VICTORIA GUIDA, MEREDITH LEE HILL and JASPER GOODMAN report. The president's comment came after he surveyed a group of hard-line House Republicans in the Oval Office on Tuesday night, all of whom want Powell out.
After their support, Trump indicated that he would likely remove Powell very soon, according to two people with direct knowledge of the meeting. He also showed the lawmakers a draft letter ousting the Fed chief.
A person familiar with the deliberations said the president is actively considering firing Powell but has not made the decision. Trump said in the Oval Office today he is 'not talking about that.'
WEATHER PROJECT FROZEN: The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration was planning to debut its Atlas 15 project, a tool to help communities predict how rising global temperatures will alter the frequency of extreme rainfall, before the Trump administration suspended it, WaPo's SARAH KAPLAN reports.
The project was expected to be released in two volumes: one assessing communities' current risks and another that would project how those risks will change under future climate scenarios. But work has been on hold for months after Commerce Secretary HOWARD LUTNICK ordered a review of Volume 2 this spring, according to current and former NOAA officials with knowledge of the project.
National Weather Service spokesperson ERICA GROW CEI confirmed the move to delay the project, saying the review is aimed at 'making sure research dollars and technology investments are being put to the very best use for the American people.'
BACK AT IT: The EPA has restarted its reorganization efforts after the Supreme Court earlier this month lifted a lower court's injunction stalling the Trump administration from restructuring the agency, POLITICO's E&E News' ROBIN BRAVENDER and KEVIN BOGARDUS report. But EPA employees will have less say in where they end up under the reconstruction because officials still want to meet a set timeline, an EPA official told colleagues in an internal email obtained by POLITICO's E&E News.
The apparent move to limit employees' options signals that the agency is hustling to comply with the administration's directive to restructure federal bureaucracy.
Following the Supreme Court's order, 'the agency is moving forward with making selections to fill open positions that will help the agency meet its mission and Power the Great American Comeback,' EPA spokesperson MOLLY VASELIOU said in an email.
WHO'S IN, WHO'S OUT
LET'S TRY THIS AGAIN: HHS Secretary ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR. named a new acting chief of staff today after the departure of two senior staffers, our LAUREN GARDNER and DAVID LIM report. MATT BUCKHAM, who was previously Kennedy's White House liaison, is taking on the role immediately, an HHS spokesperson confirmed to POLITICO.
His predecessor, HEATHER FLICK MELANSON, is no longer listed on the department's leadership webpage. And HANNAH ANDERSON, Kennedy's deputy chief of staff for policy, departed Tuesday, a former department official familiar with the matter told POLITICO.
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POTUS PUZZLER ANSWER
In 1902, following the assassination of former President WILLIAM McKINLEY, the Secret Service assumed full-time responsibility for protecting presidents, beginning with THEODORE ROOSEVELT. The law enforcement agency was initially founded in 1865 as a branch of the Treasury Department to combat the counterfeiting of U.S. currency.