Harvard says internal Trump administration records show the White House directed agencies to freeze grant money

Harvard University told a judge it has a trove of internal Trump administration documents that show the White House directed the abrupt freezing of more than $2 billion in federal funds headed to the university’s research programs, in violation of federal law.

Harvard University told a judge it has a trove of internal Trump administration documents that show the White House directed the abrupt freezing of more than $2 billion in federal funds headed to the university’s research programs, in violation of federal law. Harvard argues in the Monday court filing this approach shows the agencies violated the law in the way they abruptly froze university research grants, and that the federal government made no effort to investigate its accusations of antisemitism at Harvard. “The directive to freeze and terminate every dollar of Harvard’s research funds came directly from the White House, which dictated the form that such terminations would take and set arbitrary deadlines for particular terminations,” Harvard’s lawyers wrote. Internal federal agency documents that Harvard obtained include communications where Trump administration officials acknowledge the White House was giving the greenlight on the grant terminations, and that a template letter the White House wanted to use was sent from different federal agencies to the university. “In its haste to cancel Harvard’s funding, the White House demanded that agencies terminate funding, leaving them with no time or freedom to explain their decisions, consider important aspects of the problem and alternatives, or account for the pivotal reliance interests tossed aside by Harvard’s blacklisting,” the university’s filing said. This story is breaking and will be updated.