Trump alleged that Harvard University had engaged in criminal conduct.
President Donald Trump said on Feb. 2 that his administration would demand Harvard University to pay $1 billion in damages, labeling the university as “strongly antisemitic.”
“We are now seeking One Billion Dollars in damages, and want nothing further to do, into the future, with Harvard University,” the president said in a Truth Social post.
The Trump administration last year attempted to freeze billions of dollars in federal funding from Harvard following an investigation into diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives and claims of anti-Semitism in higher education. The White House said in April that Harvard had failed to protect its students from harassment and violence on campus.
“Harvard has been, for a long time, behaving very badly! They wanted to do a convoluted job training concept, but it was turned down in that it was wholly inadequate and would not have been, in our opinion, successful,” Trump wrote.
“It was merely a way of Harvard getting out of a large cash settlement of more than 500 Million Dollars, a number that should be much higher for the serious and heinous illegalities that they have committed.”
Trump also accused Harvard of “feeding a lot of ‘nonsense’” to The New York Times, but did not provide further details.
The Epoch Times has reached out to Harvard for comment, but did not receive a response by publication time.
Jewish students at Harvard reported incidents of harassment following the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks against Israel by Hamas-led terrorists and the subsequent Israeli military offensive in Gaza. Students sued the school, and its former president, Claudine Gay, resigned after congressional hearings on campus anti-Semitism.
Harvard President Alan Garber, who succeeded Gay, rejected a list of conditions outlined by a federal anti-Semitism task force and filed a lawsuit against the administration in April 2025, seeking to restore $2.2 billion in grants and contracts withheld by the government.
A federal judge later reversed the funding freeze, ruling that the government violated the First Amendment through its efforts to combat anti-Semitism. The Justice Department appealed the decision in December 2025.
Trump also issued a proclamation on June 4, 2025, seeking to end Harvard’s visa program for international students, prompting the university to file another legal challenge.
