THE GRIFT

Unpacking claim State Department redirected $1.25B to Trump's Board of Peace

Jack Izzo
Wed, April 8, 2026 at 12:16 PM MDT



Saul Loeb, accessed via Getty Images


In April 2026, a rumor circulated online that the U.S. Department of State had authorized the transfer of $1.25 billion worth of funding to the Board of Peace.

President Donald Trump established the board via executive order in 2026 amid the Israel-Hamas War. Its stated purpose is to promote peacekeeping around the world. Social media users claimed the money was originally intended for international relief and peacekeeping efforts.

Some Facebook and X users called the alleged $1.25 billion transfer the "biggest grift ever" and "highly illegal."



According to the posts, the transfer effectively placed the money directly in the hands of Trump, the board's chairman. Trump and the board's executives control funding for the Board of Peace — and Trump selects the executive board — and the president will continue to do so even after his second term ends in January 2029.

Snopes readers also contacted us looking for clarification on the matter.

The source of the rumor is a March 26 article on Semafor, a political news media website. The report cites an anonymous source; therefore, it is not possible to independently verify its findings. The beginning of the article says:

The State Department has drawn on funds for international disasters and peacekeeping to transfer $1.25 billion to President Donald Trump's Board of Peace, a person familiar with the funding said.

Notes in the State Department's 2027 budget proposal do suggest it could use money earmarked for international humanitarian assistance to fund the Board of Peace (Paragraph 2, Page 91; Paragraph 4, Page 96).

Without a trusted source who would be able to provide documentation confirming the reallocation of funding, there is not enough verifiable information to rate this claim.

Snopes contacted the White House and State Department for comment on the rumor. The White House directed us to the State Department, which did not reply (though it reportedly told Semafor it had "nothing to announce at this time").
Board of Peace

Trump created the Board of Peace via executive order in January 2026, with the initial goal being to have it regulate the details of his plan for peace in the Gaza Strip. According to its charter, Trump, who also serves as the board's inaugural chairman, has almost total control over its funding and activities. States can become a member of the board for either three years (subject to renewal by the chairman) or permanently if they contribute $1 billion within the first year of the charter coming into effect.

Several U.S. allies turned down Trump's invitation to join the board, according to reporting from The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, because of perceived friendliness toward Russia (who was invited to join but is not a member, as of this writing) and concerns it sought to sidestep the United Nations.

At various times, news outlets have reported that Trump has committed the U.S. to providing "more than $1 billion," $1.25 billion and $10 billion in funding to the board. The administration has not specified where those sums of money would come from.
State Department's budget proposals

Snopes reviewed the State Department's budget proposals for the 2026 and 2027 fiscal years to compare their figures to the reallocated funding Semafor reported.

Both budgets asked to dramatically reduce the amount of international humanitarian assistance the U.S. provides to foreign nations. In FY 2026, the department asked to chop the $8.8 billion total budget down to $2.5 billion total (Page 128). Congress ended up funding between $5-6 billion, according to Page 96 of the FY 2027 budget estimation.

In FY 2027, the department asked to cut it down to $4 billion total (Page 96), explicitly noting that the money could be used to fund Trump's Board of Peace (Paragraph 4, Page 96). In other words, the State Department's FY 2027 budget provides some evidence supporting the idea that money for international humanitarian assistance could be spent funding the Board of Peace.

Reviewing the State Department's requested budgets for the 2026 and 2027 Fiscal Years, we found the department wished to entirely cut peacekeeping contributions in both years (FY 2026, Page 93; FY 2027, Page 58). Congress, which controls the budget, however, provided about $1.25 billion in funding for international peacekeeping operations, plenty of room for the $200 million supposedly earmarked for the Board of Peace proposal (FY 2027, Page 58). (The remaining $50 million could come from other funding to international organizations. Both budgets asked to reduce spending there, too — FY 2026, Page 87; FY 2027, Page 54).

According to the Semafor article, Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, a Democrat from Nevada, planned to introduce a bill that would block the executive branch from transferring the funds allegedly earmarked for the Board of Peace, instead putting $1 billion toward the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program.

Snopes contacted Cortez Masto's office to ask whether her bill was based solely on the news Semafor reported and to ask whether she had additional sources confirming the State Department had reallocated the funds. We had not heard back at time of publication.
Sources:

"Board of Peace." Board of Peace, https://boardofpeace.org. Accessed 7 Apr. 2026.

"Designating the Board of Peace as a Public International Organization Entitled To Enjoy Certain Privileges, Exemptions, and Immunities." Federal Register, 22 Jan. 2026, https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2026/01/22/2026-01271/designating-the-board-of-peace-as-a-public-international-organization-entitled-to-enjoy-certain.

Donald Trump's 20-Point Gaza Peace Plan in Full. 9 Oct. 2025, https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c70155nked7o.

Exclusive: State Department Sends $1.25B from Other Programs to Board of Peace. 26 Mar. 2026, https://www.semafor.com/article/03/26/2026/state-department-sends-125b-in-foreign-aid-to-board-of-peace.

"Statement on President Trump's Comprehensive Plan to End the Gaza Conflict." The White House, 16 Jan. 2026, https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/2026/01/statement-on-president-trumps-comprehensive-plan-to-end-the-gaza-conflict/.

"Trump Vows $10 Billion from U.S. for His Board of Peace as He Leans into Global Role." NBC News, 19 Feb. 2026, https://www.nbcnews.com/world/gaza/trump-board-of-peace-first-meeting-gaza-un-israel-rcna259509.