WASHINGTON –President Donald Trumphas long admired political strongmen such asRussia's Vladimir Putin, Hungary's Viktor Orban and Saudi Arabia's Mohammed bin Salman. Now he's got a new invite-only international "Board of Peace" that's full of them.
"Usually they say, 'he's a horrible dictator-type person, I'm a dictator,'" Trump said of himself in a speech Jan. 21 on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. "But sometimes you need a dictator."
At Davos the next day, Trump held a signing ceremony for new members of the Peace Board, which heinitially established to cementa ceasefire between Israel and Hamas and then to help rebuild Gaza after it was decimated by the two-year war.
President Donald Trump arrives in Davos to attend the World Economic Forum (WEF), on January 21, 2026 in Davos, Switzerland. The annual meeting of political and business leaders comes amid rising tensions between the United States and Europe over a range of issues, including Trump's vow to acquire Greenland, a semi-autonomous Danish territory." style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> 
Trump mingles with global leaders in Davos for World Economic Forum
President Donald Trump arrives in Davos to attend the World Economic Forum (WEF), on January 21, 2026 in Davos, Switzerland. The annual meeting of political and business leaders comes amid rising tensions between the United States and Europe over a range of issues, including Trump's vow to acquire Greenland, a semi-autonomous Danish territory.
Putin, Orban and bin Salman have all joined the board or expressed a desire to do so. So have Turkey's Recep Tayyip Erdoğan,Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko and Israel'sBenjamin Netanyahu.
All have drawn condemnation frominternational human rights groupsand someinternational legal organizations.
"Once this board is completely formed, we can do pretty much whatever we want to do," Trump told the new signatories on Jan. 22, "and we'll do it in conjunction with the United Nations."
Criticism, but not for its board members
The new signatories were mentioned only by title, not by name, as they came in pairs to sit with Trump and sign a document.
Each got a handshake and pat on the back from Trump too, and then smiled for a photo.
"Everyone in this room is a star or you wouldn't be here," Trump told the assembled dignitaries. "You're the biggest people, the most important people in the world, most powerful people in the world."
Trump has asked numerous democratically elected leaders to join as part of his initial invitations to as many as 50 countries. Nations that want to become permanent members must pay $1 billion to become charter members.
The White House did not respond to requests for comment on who's officially in the group – and how much they've paid. Edgar Vasquez, a State Department spokesman, told USA TODAY that the administration is "working on compiling the list. It includes democratic countries."
The bylaws state that Trump will remain chairman of the board in perpetuity, potentially long after he leaves the White House at the end of his constitutionally mandated second and last term in January 2029.
The board has been attacked by Trump's critics as serving his personal interests.
"I'm not naive about the corruption and the graft at a scale we've never seen in American history," California Gov. Gavin Newsom told a Davos audience "I'm not naive about folks writing billion-dollar checks to (Steven) Witkoff, to Jared Kushner for this new peace deal they're announcing today."
Kushner, Trump's son-in-law, and Witkoff − a Trump confidant and his special envoy to the Middle East − are among Trump's delegates to the organization.
But the group has also garnered headlines for who else Trump has invited to join.
More:Trump loves populists and strongmen. Here's who he's invited to the inauguration
Invitations have been extended to U.S. adversaries such as Russia and China. Trump also sent them out to repressive states including Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Egypt, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates.
"I havesome controversial peopleon it," Trump told CNN, saying Putin has agreed to join. The Russian president has floatedusing Russian assetsfrozen in the United States to pay the $1 billion fee for a permanent seat.
Who are the 'controversial people' on the board?
Putin is among the most controversial, given that he has waged a brutal war against much smaller neighbor Ukraine for nearly four years.
Putin's decades-long rule in Russia has included allegedly orchestrating dozens of murders ofdissidents like Alexei Navalny, using thecountry as his personal piggy bankandkidnapping thousands of Ukrainianchildren.
Ukrainian PresidentVolodymyr Zelenskyysaid it would be difficult for him to see being "together with Russia in any council," and that "the issue is that Russia is our enemy, and Belarus is their ally."
Lukashenko, a staunch ally of Putin, has kept Belarus under rigid authoritarian control since 1994. In an effort to quash opposition, he hasoverseen human rights violationsagainst the country's civilian population so severe that some amounted to crimes against humanity, the UN Group of Independent Experts on the Human Rights Situation in Belarus warned in areportlast February.
The report found that men and women in detention "had been routinely subjected to torture and ill-treatment, including beatings, electric shocks and threats to rape not only detainees but their partners as well."
Orban, whom Trumppraised for his hardline anti-immigrationrecord, has been accused since taking power in 2010 of systematically dismantling democratic institutions and committing widespread human rights violations.
Bin Salman, known informally as MBS, is Saudi Arabia's de facto ruler and has been criticized for having a similar authoritarian leadership style. He was accused by U.S. intelligence agencies of ordering Saudi-American journalist Jamal Khashoggi brutally killed and dismembered in a Saudi embassy in Turkey.
"Things happen," was how Trump described Khashoggi's murder duringbin Salman's visit to the Oval Officelast November. "It's an honor to be your friend," Trump told MBS at the meeting, "and it's an honor that you're here."
Israel's Netanyahu is also reportedly on board but –like Putin−faces an arrest warrantfrom the International Criminal Court for alleged war crimes. That may explain why neither of them attended the annual economic summit in the Swiss resort town.
Under Erdoğan's leadership since 2014, Turkey has an "unconscionably large number of political prisoners, especially ethnic Kurds and Turks adhering to the Gulen movement," Republican Rep. Chris Smith, of New Jersey, said at ahuman rights hearinglast June.
What is the Board of Peace?
Trump initially floated the Board of Peace as part of a U.S.-brokered Gaza ceasefire plan in September.
In November, the United Nations Security Councilbacked the plan, giving it international legitimacy and a mandate to oversee the demilitarization and rebuilding of Gaza.
But thegroup's charterhas also raised questions about whether it could conflict with the United Nations, stating that it will work to "secure enduring peace in areas affected or threatened by conflict."
Asked this week if he wanted his Board of Peace to replace the United Nations, Trump said, "Well it might. The UN just hasn't been very helpful," before adding that, "I believe you've got to let the UN continue because the potential is so great."
Few have criticized it publicly. Annalena Baerbock, president of the United Nations General Assembly,told Sky Newsthe United Nations was the only institution with the moral and legal ability to bring together every nation, big or small.
"And if we question that ... we fall back and very, very, dark, times," Baerbock said, adding that it was up to individual states to decide what to do.
China, another repressive regime, has confirmed it received an invitation. But it has not yet decided, saying through a spokesman that it wants to "stay firmly committed to safeguarding the international system with the UN at its core."
Who else is on the Board of Peace?
So far, few high-profile U.S. allies have joined, in part due to Trump's in-your-face, "America First" approach.
French President Emmanuel Macronrejected the offer outright,Politico reported, with his office saying the board's charter "goes beyond the framework of Gaza" and "raises serious questions" about undermining the U.N.
Norway and Swedenhave also declined.Pope Leo, the first pontiff from the United States and a critic of some of Trump's policies, is evaluating his invitation, the Vatican said Jan. 21.
Trump withdrew his invitation to Canada Jan. 22 just days afterPrime Minister Mark Carneydelivered an address at Davos that indirectly but forcefully criticized Trump for creating a "rupture" with the United States over tariffs and Greenland.
"The Board of Peace is withdrawing its invitation to you regarding Canada's joining, what will be, the most prestigious Board of Leaders ever assembled, at any time," Trump said in asocial media postdirected at Carney.
Other autocrats on the board
Some other high-profile autocrats attended Trump's Board of Peace rollout, includingShavkat Mirziyoyev, the president of Uzbekistan. In office since December 2016, he's consolidated power and extended presidential terms in a country where no legal opposition exists.
Others sent representatives to the signing, including Mohammed bin Zayed, the president of the United Arab Emirates and ruler of Abu Dhabi. His Gulf kingdom is known forsecurity‑centric, authoritarianstate rule.
Egypt's military‑backed president, Abdel Fattah el‑Sisi, wasn't there but a representative confirmed in aJan. 21 statementthat he's agreed to participate − and that the country would complete all necessary legal and constitutional procedures to formalize its membership on the board. After leading a military coup in 2013, Sisi has been accused by Amnesty International of aggressively repressing political opponents and keeping tens of thousands of political prisoners, according to Human Rights Watch, which he denies. In his first term,Trump said Sisi"doing a great job."
Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto was also there, smiling for a photo alongside Trump. Inaugurated in October 2024, Subianto wasonce banned by the United Statesfrom entering for two decades due to his human rights record while in the military. He served as a special forces commander in a unit linked to torture and disappearances, allegations that he vehemently denied while campaigning.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:Trump's new Board of Peace includes 'controversial people' like Putin
