President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace will be receiving $1.25 billion from the U.S. State Department, taxpayer funds that had been designated for international disasters and peacekeeping, Semafor reported in an exclusive.

Trump’s Board of Peace has drawn criticism for its highly centralized structure, under which Trump serves as chairman for life and controls who succeeds him. He also wields unilateral control over the organization’s actions, including where and how it spends its funds.

U.S. Senator Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) is introducing legislation that would redirect $1 billion of the $1.25 bill to the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program.

“Instead of giving President Trump a $1 billion blank check to fund a ‘Board of Peace’ that has offered no transparency about how it is investing its money, let’s focus on helping American families afford their monthly power bill,” Cortez Masto told Semafor.

READ MORE: Trump Unleashes Unhinged Early Morning Tirade Targeting Enemies and Allies

Trump has pledged the U.S. will provide the Border Patrol of Peace a total of $10 billion.

Trump has sole discretion on which nations are invited to join, and he is requiring a $1 billion payment to the Board of Peace for permanent membership. The president rescinded his invitation to Canada after its prime minister indicated Canada would not pay the $1 billion fee.

According to reports, the organization could be filled with authoritarian leaders, and it is being seen as a possible rival to the United Nations.

“The Board of Peace has had a rough landing,” reported Bloomberg News’ UK political editor Alex Wickham in January, noting that “it’s been criticized by Israel, questioned by Europe and has Russia’s friends celebrating.”

READ MORE: Trump Is So Desperate to End the War He Doesn’t Even Want to Call It One: Columnist

Image via Reuters 

President Donald Trump’s early-morning tirade against Republicans, Democrats, NATO, and Iran revealed a commander in chief seemingly anxious to end his Iran war — which he now wants to recast as a “military operation” — even as he insisted the Middle Eastern nation is “begging” for a deal, one he warned may not come.

“Even Trump, it seems, may be losing patience with the war he started,” writes Bill Kristol at The Bulwark, suggesting that he “may be looking for an off ramp.”

“The Wall Street Journal reported last night that Trump ‘has told associates in recent days that he wants to avoid a protracted war in Iran and that he hopes to bring the conflict to an end in the coming weeks’ because it’s ‘distracting from his other priorities,'” Kristol noted.

While Trump has indicated that he is in negotiations with Iran — which they have at times denied — he has threatened to continue, and even ramp up his attacks, as he sends more troops to the area.

Kristol noted that Trump “may now be dramatically expanding” the war with troops on the ground.

READ MORE: Trump Unleashes Unhinged Early Morning Tirade Targeting Enemies and Allies

“Republicans on the Hill are frustrated,” saying that they’re not getting enough answers, Kristol continued, while noting that “they’re unwilling to act. Which means this is not just Trump’s war. It is the GOP’s war.”

But, “Trump and some Republicans don’t want to call it a war,” Kristol observed. “Trump said last night that he’s avoiding describing the conflict as a ‘war’ because Congress hasn’t authorized it.”

“I won’t use the word ‘war’ because they say, if you use the word ‘war,’ that’s maybe not a good thing to do,” Trump said. “They don’t like the word ‘war,’ because you’re supposed to get approval, so I’ll use the word ‘military operation,’ which is what it really is.”

Kristol added that “in his same speech last night Trump did use the word ‘war,’ saying, ‘The war essentially ended a few days after we went in.’ On Tuesday, Trump had pointed out that ‘people don’t like me using the word ‘war,’ so I won’t, but the Democrats call it a war.'”

READ MORE: The GOP’s Secret Weapon? A ‘Known Unknown’ That Could Swing the Midterms: Columnist

Image via Reuters 

President Donald Trump kicked off Thursday with an early morning tirade attacking a wide range of enemies and allies, from Democrats to Republicans, and from NATO to Iran.

The president, who has blocked bipartisan legislation to get TSA workers paid as lines at the nation’s airports loop out the doors and into basements, is under pressure to fix it before lawmakers themselves are expected to head home for a two-week spring break.

But the president appears intent on placing blame on Congress, and again called for the termination of the filibuster.

“When is ‘enough, enough’ for our Republican Senators,” Trump asked at 6:51 a.m. “There comes a time when you must do what should have been done a long time ago, and something which the Lunatic Democrats will do on day one, if they ever get the chance. TERMINATE THE FILIBUSTER, and get our airports, and everything else, moving again. Also, add the complete, all five items, SAVE AMERICA ACT items. Go for the Gold!!!”

Minutes earlier he had posted a link to an article that called for a change to the “broken” Senate’s rules.

READ MORE: The GOP’s Secret Weapon? A ‘Known Unknown’ That Could Swing the Midterms: Columnist

“TERMINATE THE FILIBUSTER!” he declared in a clarion call at 6:59 a.m.

At 7:22 a.m. he targeted Senate Democratic Minority Leader Chuck Schumer:

“Chuck Schumer, a desperate, crippled politician, who has lost control of the Radical Left Democrats, will make a deal now because he thinks that if he doesn’t, Republicans will TERMINATE THE FILIBUSTER, something which they should do whether he makes a deal or not!!!”

Senate Republican Majority Leader John Thune has repeatedly said he opposes ending the filibuster, and has noted there are not enough votes to do so.

Even earlier Thursday morning, Trump was focused on Iran and NATO.

At 6:16 a.m., he wrote “NATO NATIONS HAVE DONE ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO HELP WITH THE LUNATIC NATION, NOW MILITARILY DECIMATED, OF IRAN. THE U.S.A. NEEDS NOTHING FROM NATO, BUT ‘NEVER FORGET’ THIS VERY IMPORTANT POINT IN TIME!”

Minutes later, at 6:39 a.m., he threatened Iran:

“The Iranian negotiators are very different and ‘strange.’ They are ‘begging’ us to make a deal, which they should be doing since they have been militarily obliterated, with zero chance of a comeback, and yet they publicly state that they are only ‘looking at our proposal.’ WRONG!!! They better get serious soon, before it is too late, because once that happens, there is NO TURNING BACK, and it won’t be pretty!”

Independent foreign policy and security analyst Jimmy Rushton responded to Trump’s early morning remark, writing: “This sort of hyper-belligerent weakness is unique to Trump; constantly throwing around bellicose threats whilst at the same time transparently desperate for the Iranians to agree to end hostilities.”

READ MORE: ‘Big Embarrassment’: Trump Team Mocked After Admitting Lack of Evidence Against Fed Chair