The administration of US President Donald Trump is demanding one billion dollars in damages from Harvard University.
The president announced this on his own social network Truth Social (not available in Ukraine).
“We are demanding one billion dollars in damages and want no further relationship with Harvard University,” he wrote.
According to The New York Times, the Trump administration is no longer insisting on paying $200 million to the US budget as part of negotiations with Harvard over allegations of inadequate response to “anti-Semitism” at the university.
The Trump administration had previously demanded that Harvard transfer the money to the federal treasury as a condition for resolving the dispute, but the university rejected the idea.
However, after the publication of The New York Times article, Trump publicly announced his withdrawal of the financial demands. In a post on Truth Social, he stated that he was demanding $1 billion in “damages” from Harvard and that the investigation into the university should become criminal in nature.
“This should be a criminal case, not a civil one, and Harvard will have to live with the consequences of its wrongdoing,” Trump wrote.
The White House previously suggested the possibility of a compromise with the university amid the president's falling approval ratings and scandals, including those surrounding immigration control and the deaths of two US citizens allegedly shot by federal agents in Minnesota.
At the same time, according to sources, Harvard fears that any concessions to Trump could cause even greater internal and public opposition.
Trump previously canceled hundreds of grants for Harvard researchers, saying the university had not done enough to address the problem of harassment of Jewish students, prompting Harvard to sue the US government.
In December 2025, the Trump administration appealed a judge's decision that ruled that it had illegally terminated more than $2 billion in grants to Harvard and could no longer stop funding research at the Ivy League university.
Last year, Trump said his administration was close to a deal with Harvard that would see the university pay $500 million, after months of negotiations over the institution's policies.