Mark Twain once famously (supposedly) said, “The report of my death was an exaggeration.” On Monday, President Trump said that a New York Times report claiming he had lost interest in punishing Harvard University for allowing rampant antisemitism on its campus following the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks on Insreal weren’t just exaggerated, they were completely bogus.
In fact, the president said in a series of social media posts, he’s still appalled by the Ivy League university’s behavior and is pushing for a massive settlement.
President Trump claimed late Monday that his administration wants $1 billion from Harvard University to settle federal probes of the Ivy League school, rejecting a New York Times report that he had dropped demands for payment.
“Strongly Antisemitic Harvard University has been feeding a lot of ‘nonsense’ to The Failing New York Times,” Trump began a lengthy post on Truth Social. “Harvard has been, for a long time, behaving very badly!”
The Education Department has been threatening to withhold federal funds from Harvard and several other universities over issues including anti-Israel and antisemitic demonstrations following the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on the Jewish state.
In a series of posts, he blasted both the Times and Harvard and said he had no intention of backing down. It’s “fake news,” he charged:
In another post, he said Harvard was feeding garbage news to the Times in order to avoid accountability:
Strongly Antisemitic Harvard University has been feeding a lot of “nonsense” to The Failing New York Times. Harvard has been, for a long time, behaving very badly!
[...]
We are now seeking One Billion Dollars in damages, and want nothing further to do, into the future, with Harvard University.
Harvard has a staggering $56.9 billion endowment as of fiscal year 2025, so a settlement is hardly going to break their bank.
Thank you, President Trump, for your unwavering support of American students since Day 1.
— Shabbos Kestenbaum (@ShabbosK) February 3, 2026
Harvard University has repeatedly violated the civil rights of Christian, Jewish, and Asian American students.
No more negotiations.
No more taxpayer handouts.
DEFUND PERMANENTLY! pic.twitter.com/Q5rcq7sUn3
MORE ELITE ACADEMIA: 'Deeply Ashamed' Former Harvard Prez Larry Summers Steps Back From Public Life Amid Epstein Revelations
HHS Finds Harvard in Violation of Title VI Over Antisemitism on Campus
Also at issue is Trump’s desire for the university to operate a trade school; he vowed to spend as much as $500 million to make that happen. But, now, however, he is less than satisfied with their efforts:
The president appeared to reject that arrangement Monday night, writing: “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. 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.
Many of our nation’s top academic institutions acted horribly following Oct. 7, allowing violent demonstrations on their campuses, refusing to keep their scared Jewish students safe, turning a blind eye to noxious pro-Hamas statements from their professors, and more.
They deserve what Trump has been dishing out.
Editor’s Note: The nation’s elite academic institutions have lost the plot and become full-on indoctrination centers.
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