The Donald Trump administration is considering housing the new Peace Council in the Washington building that previously housed the U.S. Institute of Peace, the Associated Press reported, citing four administration officials.
The building has been the subject of lawsuits filed by former employees and executives of the non-governmental think tank after the Republican administration took control of it last year and fired almost the entire institute's staff. The building has since been renamed the “Donald Trump U.S. Institute of Peace,” but its name and status remain in legal limbo.
A federal judge ruled that the U.S. Institute of Peace, as an independent nongovernmental organization created by Congress, is not subject to executive branch control and that the Trump administration’s takeover of the building was illegal. The government is appealing that ruling.
Rumors that Trump planned to use the building for the Peace Council began to circulate after the administration used the Council’s logo on an image of the Institute of Peace building and its distinctive dome.
This was demonstrated when Trump introduced the Peace Council last week at the World Economic Forum in Davos. The Council currently has 27 "founding members," world leaders whose initial task was to oversee Trump's Gaza truce plan. But Trump appears to have broader ambitions for the Council, and its charter states that it will seek to take on and resolve other global conflicts. Many of the United States' closest allies in Europe and elsewhere have refused to join, fearing it could rival the United Nations Security Council, the Associated Press reported.
US President Donald Trump said he would announce his pick for the next head of the Federal Reserve later today, Agence France-Presse reported. The decision has been eagerly awaited by the markets.
Arriving in Washington for the premiere of the documentary "Melania", dedicated to the first lady of the United States, Trump explained that he had chosen "someone very good" to head the Federal Reserve.
The term of the current Fed Chairman Jerome Powell expires in May this year. He was appointed to the post during Trump's first presidential term in 2018. However, the Republican president often criticizes the current Fed chief for refusing to lower key interest rates at the pace he wants.
The US central bank on Wednesday left its interest rates unchanged in the range of 3.5-3.75 percent, which gave new reason for criticism from Trump.