In a social media post, the president mused about redirecting $3 billion in research grant funding that his administration has frozen or withdrawn, but he gave no details.
President Trump floated a new plan on Monday for the $3 billion he wants to strip from Harvard University, saying in a social media post that he was thinking about using the money to fund vocational schools.
“I am considering taking THREE BILLION DOLLARS of Grant Money away from a very antisemitic Harvard, and giving it to TRADE SCHOOLS all across our land,” Mr. Trump posted on Truth Social, his social media platform.
The announcement, among the president’s Memorial Day social media messages, did not appear to refer to any new cut in funding, but rather to a redistribution of money the administration already announced it had frozen or stripped from Harvard and its research partners.
Mr. Trump gave no details about how such a plan would work.
The message was accompanied by yet another post accusing Harvard of being slow to respond to the administration’s requests for information on “foreign student lists.” Mr. Trump said his administration wanted them in order to determine how many “radicalized lunatics, troublemakers all, should not be let back into our Country.”
The posts seemed intended to keep up public relations pressure on Harvard, the nation’s oldest and wealthiest university. Harvard is engaged in an epic battle with the White House, rooted in the administration’s claims that the university tolerates antisemitism and promotes liberal ideology.
Harvard declined on Monday to comment on the president’s post.
The university is battling the White House in federal court in Boston to secure the reinstatement of grants and contracts that the government has frozen or withdrawn, amounting to more than $3 billion. In a separate lawsuit, the university is also fighting Mr. Trump’s plan to take away the university’s right to admit international students.
