Trump Persists in Harvard Vendetta with New Frivolous Suit
By Reuters | 13 Feb, 2026

The new suit appears to be more straw-clutching in the legal war with Harvard as the Trump administration struggles to defend the suit filed by Harvard for blocking federal funds on spurious, unconstitutional grounds.

A pedestrian casts a shadow on a Harvard University sign after U.S. President Donald Trump said that his administration was close to a deal with Harvard University, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S., September 30, 2025. REUTERS/Brian Snyder/File Photo

The Trump administration filed a new lawsuit on Friday against Harvard University, accusing it of failing to comply with a federal investigation, and seeking documents related to its admissions process, according to a filing in a federal court in Massachusetts.

U.S. President Donald Trump said earlier this month that his administration was seeking $1 billion from Harvard to settle probes into school policies, after a news report that said Trump had dropped his demand for a payment from the Ivy League school.

Harvard has been a central focus of the administration's broad campaign to leverage federal funding to force change at U.S. universities, which Trump says are gripped by antisemitic and "radical left" ideologies.

The administration canceled hundreds of grants awarded to Harvard researchers on the grounds the school failed to do enough to address harassment of Jewish students on its campus, prompting Harvard to sue.

(Reporting by Susan Heavey and Ryan Patrick Jones in Toronto;, Editing by Chizu Nomiyama Editing by David Ljunggren)