President Donald Trump claimed that a multimillion-dollar deal with Harvard University is imminent, with Education Secretary Linda McMahon working to iron out the details.
“We’re in the process of getting very close, and Linda’s finishing up the final details, and they’ll be paying about $500 million, and they’ll be operating trade schools,” Trump told reporters during an Oval Office event Tuesday afternoon.
“They’re going to be teaching people how to do [artificial intelligence] and lots of other things, engines, lots of things. You know, we need people in trade schools,” the president continued.
The Trump administration has feuded with Harvard over allegations of antisemitism and attempted to strip the elite university of federal funding.
The latest flare-up occurred on Monday, when the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights recommended that Harvard be suspended and debarred, following up on a June notice that the university was indifferent to antisemitism on its campus. Harvard now has 20 days to inform the office whether it will exercise its right to a hearing.
Earlier this month, a federal judge ordered that $2.2 billion in frozen university funding be returned. U.S. District Judge Allison Burroughs claimed that freezing the funding violated constitutional free speech protections and federal law.
The Trump administration froze the funding in April and issued guidelines that Harvard and other higher education institutions must meet before regaining it.
But it now appears that the Trump administration and Harvard could end their feud if a deal is struck soon, with Harvard launching trade schools, according to Trump.
“By opening up trade school, this would be a giant trade school, series of trade schools. It would be run by Harvard. Now, this is something that we’re close to finalizing. We haven’t done it yet,” Trump teased.
JUDGE BLOCKS TRUMP’S $2.2 BILLION HARVARD FUNDING FREEZE
“But they put up $500 million interest and everything else would go to that account, meaning go to the trade school,” he continued. “And, you know, it’s a big investment in trade school, done by very smart people, and then their sins are forgiven. So we have a good chance of getting that close.”
Madi Biedermann, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Communications at the Department of Education, told the Washington Examiner that the administration is working toward a conclusion to its ongoing investigations at Harvard.
“As President Trump said, the Administration is actively working toward a deal with Harvard that holds them accountable for egregious civil rights violations and discrimination on campus while restoring generous taxpayer dollar support to the institution,” Biedermann said. “The Administration continues to work aggressively on a deal that is in the best interest of the American people.”
The Washington Examiner reached out to Harvard for comment.
