WASHINGTON (AP) — Most employees at the U.S. Institute of Peace, a congressionally created and funded think tank now taken over by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, received email notices of their mass firing, the latest step in the Trump administration’s government downsizing.

The emails, sent to personal accounts because most staff members had lost access to the organization’s system, began going out about 9 p.m. Friday, according to people familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of fear of reprisal.

One former senior official at the institute said among those spared were several in the human resources department and a handful of overseas staffers who have until April 9 to return to the United States. The organization has about 300 people.

Others retained for now are regional vice presidents who will be working with the staff in their areas to return to the U.S., according to one employee who was affected.

An executive order last month from President Donald Trump targeted the organization, which seeks to prevent and resolve conflicts, and three other agencies for closure. Board members, who are nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate, and the institute’s president were fired. Later, there was a standoff between employees who blocked DOGE members from entering the institute’s headquarters near the State Department. DOGE staff gained access in part with the help of the Washington police.

A lawsuit ensued, and U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell chastised DOGE representatives for their behavior but did not reinstate the board members or allow employees to return to the workspace.

A White House spokeswoman, Anna Kelly, said in an email Saturday that the institute “has failed to deliver peace” and that Trump “is carrying out his mandate to eliminate bloat and save taxpayer dollars.”

The letter to employees said that as of Friday, “your employment with us will conclude,” according to one longtime employee who shared part of the communication. A second email, obtained by the AP, said the terminations were at the direction of the president.

Workers were given until April 7 to clear out their desks.

George Foote, a former institute lawyer fired this month who is with one of the firms providing counsel in the current lawsuit, said lawyers were consulting Saturday to discuss possible next steps. He said employees are not part of the pending lawsuit, so they would have to file a separate case.

___

Associated Press writer Ellen Knickmeyer contributed to this report.

Gary Fields And Matthew Lee, The Associated Press

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — The sun was shining outside President Donald Trump’s West Palm Beach golf course on Saturday morning when Alan Mentser got a call letting him know that police were shutting down a road nearby. It was almost time to “show the boss a little love.”

Mentser, 65, and a group of hard-core supporters have spent years gathering at the same spot to welcome Trump when he comes to play golf, and they have the routine down. They monitor flight trackers to know when Air Force One arrives and traffic cameras to see if the presidential motorcade is on the move.

It’s an intense commitment of time and resources for a brief glimpse of their political hero. Mentser pointed to a gigantic banner showing Trump giving a thumbs up against an American flag backdrop. He said each one costs $300, and he has about eight of them.

But Mentser said it’s worth it at a time when supporters view Trump as a man under siege from his enemies and fabricated controversies.

“It might give him 30 seconds of seeing, ‘there’s my people,’” he said. “But that 30 seconds matter.”

Now it was time to do it again. The cue was a siren as a police vehicle blocked the road in front of the golf club.

“Here we go!” Mentser said. When he glimpsed the motorcade in the distance, he announced, “attention on deck.”

A member of the group switched the soundtrack on a portable speaker from country music to “YMCA,” the Trump campaign anthem.

The convoy of black cars rolled down the street and turned into the golf club. Trump was wearing his typical red “Make America Great Again” hat and white polo shit, and he reached across his chest to wave to the crowd with his left hand.

“President Trump! We love you!” shouted Brady Collier, 31, who wore the same hat as the president.

It was over in less than 30 seconds.

A woman with white hair pulled up shortly afterward with her windows down and a dog in the passenger seat. She waved one middle finger at the golf club and another at Trump’s supporters. Someone called her a “baby killer” before she drove off.

The moment didn’t dampen Collier’s enthusiasm. Despite all the times that he’s witnessed Trump’s motorcade, he said “today was special.” This time, the limo seemed to roll slower and closer to the sidewalk, giving Collier a better glimpse of the president.

“There’s nothing cooler than that,” he said. “Other than Jesus Christ.”

Collier, 31, is from Indiana but spent the winter in Florida, where he’s doing landscaping and food deliveries. It’s also an opportunity to show his support for Trump as often as possible.

Jared Petry, 24, has been doing the same thing. He’s from Ohio and is one of the “Front Row Joes,” a group of superfans that traveled the country supporting Trump at campaign rallies. Petry was in Butler, Pennsylvania, last summer when the president was fired upon in an assassination attempt.

“I heard popping. I didn’t know what was going on,” he said.

Petry was near the front of the audience, and he captured video of Trump, surrounded by Secret Service agents, lurching to his feet and pumping his fist in the air.

“I knew he was OK,” he said.

Now, Petry is outside the golf course every weekend.

“He never forgets his supporters,” he said. “He waves at us.”

The group chatted about going to a nearby restaurant where Fox News host Sean Hannity is sometimes spotted, but something different happened this time. A group of staff members from the golf club came over to invite them in for a meal.

Mentser said that had never happened before. They ate freshly made omelets and blueberry muffins and walked out to the veranda, where they could see Trump playing one of the holes on his golf course.

The group refrained from trying to get Trump’s attention, Mentser said.

“You don’t want to have the president post on Truth Social that ‘I was lining up my putt and my supporters threw off my game,’” he joked.

The whole experience, Mentser said, was “tremendous.”

“It’s a small way for him to say thank you, I see you,” he said.

___

Chris Megerian, The Associated Press

ATLANTA (AP) — President Donald Trump’s executive order seeking to change how U.S. elections are run is creating uncertainty for state and local election officials and worries about voter confusion before the next federal election, the 2026 midterms.

Election officials were already dealing with the loss of some cybersecurity assistance from the federal government and now face the potential for major changes that include a new voter registration requirement, decertification of certain voting systems and stricter ballot deadlines for many states.

In Connecticut, Secretary of the State Stephanie Thomas is hopeful that ballot scanners the state just bought for $20 million will be acceptable under the executive order, but she worries about other states.

“It’s not like states have millions and millions of dollars that they can just upgrade their election equipment every couple of years,” said Thomas, a Democrat. “Imagine people purchased new equipment and now it no longer can be used. There is no remedy for that in the order.”

Because Trump’s order is likely to face legal challenges, it’s unclear what will be required and when. That means more uncertainty for election officials.

“I have no idea what the timeline is for things in the executive order,” said Joseph Kirk, who oversees elections in Bartow County, Georgia. “I really hope we have some clarity on some of this stuff soon because no matter what the answers are, I need to take care of my voters.”

Order inserts the federal government into state election operations

In the order Tuesday, Trump criticized the work of election officials across the country and praised how other nations conduct their elections. Trump has long questioned the integrity of U.S. elections, falsely claiming after his White House win in 2016, when the Republican won the Electoral College but lost the popular vote to Democrat Hillary Clinton, that his support would have been higher if not for large numbers of noncitizens voting in California.

Trump continues to claim his 2020 loss to Democrat Joe Biden was the result of a “rigged” election. There is no evidence of widespread fraud and no evidence that voting systems were manipulated, with multiple reviews in the states where Trump challenged the outcome confirming his loss.

In the years since, election officials in many parts of the U.S. have endured harassment and threats, a barrage of record requests by groups skeptical of their work and legislative changes pushed by state lawmakers who argue new restrictions are necessary to restore public confidence.

Trump’s order, combined with recent decisions by his administration to pause certain cybersecurity work and pull funding for a dedicated information-sharing network for election offices, have prompted concern about the role of the federal government in elections moving forward.

“States run our elections, but the federal government has been an important partner in assisting election officials,” said Larry Norden, an election security expert with the Brennan Center for Justice. “To be a partner, you have to be trusted. You have to provide consistency and certainty. The last few months have utterly destroyed that.”

Concerns about requirement to prove US citizenship

One of the major changes outlined in the executive order is a requirement for people to show documentary proof of U.S. citizenship when they register to vote. That is something Republicans in Congress pushed last year at Trump’s urging, but the effort stalled amid Democratic opposition in the Senate.

House Republicans plan to try again with the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act, known as the SAVE Act. A House committee is scheduled to discuss the bill on Monday.

After the executive order, several Republicans who are top state election officials issued statements praising provisions that direct federal agencies to help states verify voter eligibility and citizenship. Their Democratic counterparts have been more critical.

Voting rights groups are raising concerns about the citizenship requirement. They say millions of Americans do not have easy access to their birth certificates, only about half have U.S. passports, and married women would need multiple documents if they have changed their name.

While voting by noncitizens does occur, it typically involves a tiny fraction of ballots and is more often an individual mistake rather than an intentional and coordinated attempt to subvert an election. It also can lead to felony charges and deportation. Under Trump’s order, the burden would fall to election officials to implement this requirement. Experts say that would be expensive and there’s no additional federal money to help pay for it.

“It’s creating an entirely new bureaucracy in every single state for the collection of that data, for the storage of that data, and for the retrieval of that data,” said David Becker, a former Justice Department lawyer who leads the Center for Election Innovation & Research. “You don’t wave a magic wand and do that.”

Increasing risk of voter confusion

Kate Sweeney Bell, who oversees elections in Indiana’s Marion County, said she does not expect major problems in her state because it has restrictive voting laws that she says have resulted in some of the lowest voter turnout in the country. She worries, though, about the rest of the U.S. and the amount of public education that will be needed to ensure voters are aware of whatever changes are made.

“I feel for every other state that doesn’t have the prohibitive laws that Indiana does, because it’s a rough couple of election cycles when changes like this are made,” Sweeney Bell said.

One challenge is the likelihood that protracted legal battles will delay clarity for both election officials and the public.

“If election officials are uncertain about the rules, there is no doubt that voters will not understand them — creating distrust in the process and ultimately in the validity of the outcome,” said Ryan Macias, an election security and voting systems expert.

The uncertainty comes as election officials are preparing for the 2026 elections. Dean Logan, who oversees elections in Los Angeles County, said running a successful election depends on extensive planning, a trained workforce and proper equipment.

“Last-minute changes or unilateral mandates significantly increase the risk of voter confusion and operational inconsistencies and can erode voter confidence,” he said.

Order could lead to changes in voting machines, without paying for it

Trump’s order also targets voting systems in a way that could require some counties to change machines without offering additional money to help them pay for it. It directs the U.S. Election Assistance Commission, an independent and bipartisan agency created by Congress, to amend voluntary standards for voting systems to prohibit devices that use a barcode or QR code on ballots, with an exception for ones designated for voters with disabilities.

The order calls for the commission within 180 days to review, recertify where appropriate and rescind “all previous certifications of voting equipment based on prior standards.” Beyond the legality of the order, experts say federal law outlines specific procedures and public comment periods for updating the standards.

While there are voting systems that do not use barcodes, the process for states to replace equipment takes time, said Mark Lindeman, policy and strategy director with Verified Voting, which focuses on election technology. Election offices must get approval to spend for new voting systems, go through a procurement process, wait for manufacturers to deliver the equipment and eventually train workers on how to use it.

“It’s hard for any state to procure and obtain and test new voting systems, and if there was some mad rush for many states to replace their voting systems at once, we don’t know how many systems manufacturers could supply,” Lindeman said.

___

Associated Press writer Susan Haigh in Hartford, Connecticut, contributed to this story.

Christina A. Cassidy, The Associated Press

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A Wisconsin judge on Saturday declined to stop billionaire Elon Musk from handing over $1 million checks to two voters in the state at a planned rally days before the closely contested Supreme Court election. The state attorney general, who argues that the offer violates the law, immediately appealed after the judge refused to hear the request for an emergency injunction to block the payments.

The ruling is the latest twist in Musk’s deep involvement in the race, which has set a record for spending in a judicial election and has become a litmus test for the opening months of Donald Trump’s presidency. Trump and Musk are backing Waukesha County Judge Brad Schimel in the race, while Democrats are behind Dane County Judge Susan Crawford.

Musk plans a rally Sunday where he intends to give a pair of Wisconsin voters $1 million each for signing an online petition against “activist” judges. He is also offering $100 to anyone who signs it; he previously gave $1 million to a Green Bay man who signed.

Musk and groups he funds have poured more than $20 million into the race, while Democratic megadonors, including George Soros, back Crawford. The race will determine ideological control of the court. Liberals currently hold a 4-3 majority but a retirement this year puts the majority in play. The election concludes Tuesday.

Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul, a Democrat, sued on Friday to stop the payments from Musk’s America PAC, arguing they violated a state law making it a felony to give voters anything of value in exchange for them voting.

After being turned down by Columbia County Circuit Judge Andrew Voigt, Kaul said he was going to the state Court of Appeals.

Musk’s political action committee used a nearly identical tactic before the presidential election last year, offering to pay $1 million a day to voters in Wisconsin and six other battleground states who signed a petition supporting the First and Second Amendments. A judge in Pennsylvania said prosecutors failed to show the effort was an illegal lottery and allowed it to continue through Election Day.

The Wisconsin Supreme Court race comes as the court is expected to rule on abortion rights, congressional redistricting, union power and voting rules that could affect the 2026 midterms and the 2028 presidential election.

Musk initially said in a post on his social media platform, X, that he planned to “personally hand over” $2 million to a pair of voters who have already cast their ballots in the race. Kaul asked the court to order Musk to stop promoting the Sunday giveaway and to not make any future payments to Wisconsin voters.

Even though Musk’s initial post was deleted, there has been no announcement that the payments will not be made, Kaul argued in the lawsuit.

___

Associated Press writer Scott Bauer contributed to this report.

Thomas Beaumont, The Associated Press

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — The most important Republican in New Jersey’s race for governor this year might well be a part-time resident of Bedminster who burnished his reputation and his brand near the Atlantic City Boardwalk.

“Donald Trump is the X factor in this GOP primary,” said Ben Dworkin, director of the Rowan Institute for Public Policy & Citizenship. “His endorsement right now could make or break, depending on to whom he gives it.”

But in a state that has long leaned Democratic, the president’s endorsement in the June 10 primary could complicate things in a general election, where the winner of a six-person Democratic field awaits.

That may explain why one Republican candidate, state Sen. Jon Bramnick, has criticized Trump over his pardons for those involved in the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol, and why two other leading contenders have sought the president’s support without much fanfare.

Still, in one of only two states with a race for governor this year — Virginia is the other — the general election will be closely watched for clues about whether blue state voters have been won over or repelled by Trump’s leadership. Trump, who built his brand as an Atlantic City casino owner and still owns property in New Jersey, including the Bedminster golf club, narrowed the margin between 2020 and 2024 but still lost the state, and Democrats maintain firm control.

Some Republicans think that’s changing.

The GOP field dwindled from five candidates to four this past week when Ed Durr, a former state senator and vocal Trump supporter, dropped out. Durr made national news in 2021 when he shocked state Senate President Steve Sweeney, a Democrat, by winning in their southern New Jersey district. A furniture truck driver new to elected office, Durr said in a statement he was ending his campaign so radio host and fellow Trump supporter Bill Spadea could defeat “never Trumpers” in the race.

Both Spadea and Jack Ciattarelli, the 2021 GOP nominee for governor who lost by roughly three percentage points to term-limited Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy, have said critical things of Trump in the past, but both have embraced him lately.

Ciattarelli met with the president last week. Chris Russell, his campaign strategist, declined to discuss details of the meeting, but said Ciattarelli welcomes the president’s support if he should give it. A message seeking comment was left with Spadea’s campaign.

Mario Kranjac, the former two-term mayor of the suburban New York City town of Englewood Cliffs and a recent entrant into the race, said he thinks he is the most Trump-aligned candidate because he never wavered in his support for Trump during the president’s first term.

“The residents and citizens and taxpayers of New Jersey need a governor with fixed values and beliefs, and that’s me — in terms of everything that I stand for and that President Trump stands for,” he said in a phone interview. “They shouldn’t have to worry that when something happens, their candidate is going to abandon President Trump, which I would never do.”

Part of the challenge for Republicans is that the value of Trump’s support is a moving target. The first two months of his second term as president may have alienated some voters but won others over. Anticipating how much value Trump could add to the campaign when voters cast their primary ballots is guesswork, with circumstances changing by the day.

In the pre-Trump era, some Republicans successfully navigated the shoals between the primary and the general elections. While Republicans have not won a U.S. Senate seat in New Jersey in more than five decades, they have enjoyed more success in governor’s races. The last three Republicans elected governor — Thomas Kean Sr., Christine Todd Whitman and Chris Christie — all won two consecutive terms. But their brand of politics included business-friendly conservatism, hardly the same as Trump’s aggressive populism.

Democrats remain the dominant party in the state, but some Republicans say that hold is slipping. Russell, Ciattarelli’s strategist, points to the registration gains the GOP has made, shaving the Democrats’ advantage from 1 million more voters to 834,000 more.

He said Democrats should not be overconfident in their traditional advantages.

“I think they’re missing the lesson of the 2024 election in New Jersey, which is Donald Trump did exceedingly well in New Jersey,” he said.

The weight of Trump’s influence lingers as one of the lessons the GOP took from 2024. That much seemed evident in Durr’s withdrawal from the race.

In his statement announcing the decision, Durr said he was ending his campaign so Spadea could prevail. Soon after, Durr said his statement was not actually an endorsement. Steve Kush, a Durr spokesperson, explained the distinction and, in the process, reflected who the big dog is in the primary.

“He doesn’t want to use the word endorse because he doesn’t want to get ahead of President Trump,” Kush said.

Mike Catalini, The Associated Press

When President Donald Trump signed an order calling for the deportation of foreign students who participated in “pro-jihadist” protests of the war in Gaza, some supporters of the crackdown were already working to identify targets for expulsion.

Here are some key takeaways about the efforts by pro-Israel private groups to expose protesters using facial recognition and other means, and to report them to federal authorities.

Private groups experiment with facial recognition to identify protesters

A right-wing Jewish group said it used facial-recognition software to identify campus protesters and included them on a list submitted to administration officials earlier this year, seeking deportation.

A New York computer engineer who has built a facial-recognition tool designed to identify masked protesters said he has talked with other pro-Israel groups about licensing the software for their own efforts.

The use of facial-recognition technology by private groups enters territory previously reserved largely for law enforcement, said attorney Sejal Zota, who represents a group of California activists in a lawsuit against facial-recognition company ClearviewAI.

“We’re focused on government use of facial recognition because that’s who we think of as traditionally tracking and monitoring dissent,” Zota said. But “there are now all of these groups who are sort of complicit in that effort.”

Other groups call on members to report protesters

Some private groups have urged their followers to report protesters to immigration authorities, heightening the potential consequences.

“Please tell everyone you know who is at a university to file complaints about foreign students and faculty who support Hamas,” Elizabeth Rand, president of a group called Mothers Against Campus Antisemitism, said in a Jan. 21 post to more than 60,000 followers on Facebook that included a link to an ICE tip line. She did not respond to messages seeking comment.

Efforts to identify protesters stir anxiety among foreign students

It’s unclear whether names from outside groups have reached top government officials, who have said that more arrests of international students are coming. But concern about the pursuit of activists has risen since the March 8 arrest of Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia University graduate student of Palestinian descent who helped lead demonstrations against Israel’s conduct of the war.

“Now they’re using tools of the state to actually go after people,” said a Columbia graduate student from South Asia who has been active in protests and spoke on condition of anonymity because of concerns about losing her visa.

What activities could cost students their visas?

Some supporters of deportation say they’re focused on students whose activities go beyond protest, pointing to those who incite violence or occupy campus buildings illegally.

“If you’re here, right, on a student visa causing civil unrest … assaulting people on the streets, chanting for people’s death, why the heck did you come to this country?” said Eliyahu Hawila, the software engineer whose company built the tool designed to identify masked protesters.

But an Arab-American advocate said he worries that groups bent on exposing pro-Palestinian activists will make mistakes and single out students who did nothing wrong, potentially costing them the right to stay in the U.S.

The campaigns have taken ‘doxing’ to a new level

The practice of unearthing and spreading personal information has become commonplace in the uproar over Gaza, used to harass both activists in the U.S. and Israeli soldiers who recorded video of themselves on the battlefield.

But the long-term consequences of such actions, known as doxing, were limited. The use of facial-recognition technology by private groups and calls to turn people in to immigration authorities significantly raises the stakes.

“It’s a very concerning practice. We don’t know who these individuals are or what they’re doing with this information,” said Abed Ayoud, national executive director of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee. “Essentially the administration is outsourcing surveillance.”

Adam Geller, The Associated Press