Trump ups demands from Harvard, seeks US$1 billion settlement after months of strained talks

A flag hangs on campus at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on September 4, 2025. (Shannon Stapleton/Reuters via CNN Newsource)

U.S. President Donald Trump has doubled down on his attacks against Harvard University, demanding that the Ivy League school pay a US$1 billion settlement to restore federal funding after months of failed negotiations.

“We are now seeking One Billion Dollars in damages, and want nothing further to do, into the future, with Harvard University,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social late Monday, disputing a report from the New York Times that the White House had dropped his administration’s demands on for a financial payment from the university, citing multiple unnamed sources.

Officials from Harvard and the White House have been in discussions for months about a high-dollar deal to restore all federal funding to the university and end its ongoing lawsuits against the administration. Trump had been calling on Harvard to pay a sweeping $500 million settlement.

University administrators have refused any deal that includes a cash payment, The Harvard Crimson reported, and were instead negotiating the details of a workforce development agreement of up to $500 million.

In his post on Monday, Trump dismissed the previous $500 million potential deal with Harvard to operate trade schools, which CNN reported last fall the White House was close to finalizing, calling it “wholly inadequate.”

“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,” Trump wrote. “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.”

Trump also said in his Truth Social post the administration’s investigations into Harvard should now be criminal.

“This should be a Criminal, not Civil, event, and Harvard will have to live with the consequences of their wrongdoings,” Trump said.

CNN has reached out to Harvard for comment. The university has not responded publicly to Trump’s latest demands.

In its original report Monday, the New York Times said Trump was willing to drop his demand for a $200 million payment from the university if that concession secured a deal to resolve claims that university officials mishandled antisemitism, citing multiple people briefed on the matter.

In a response to CNN asking about the report, a Department of Education spokesperson said “negotiations with Harvard are ongoing.”

“The Administration’s goal with Harvard, as with all its work on higher education, is to ensure campuses properly enforce civil rights laws, students are learning in an environment free from harassment and intimidation, and campuses once again prioritize truth-seeking and merit,” said Madi Biedermann, the Department of Education’s acting chief of staff.

CNN has also reached out to the White House for more information.

The administration has argued it is cracking down on antisemitism on college campuses in the wake of the latest war in Gaza.

In September, a federal judge ruled in Harvard’s favor to restore more than $2 billion in federal funding for research frozen by the White House, a major win for the school, which the government is appealing. Since then, the Trump administration has continued to find unprecedented ways to exert pressure on the elite institution, using multiple levers of the federal government and repeatedly threatening to cut off research grants.

While Harvard takes on the White House directly in court, other universities have taken less confrontational approaches with the president’s team. In July, Columbia University agreed to pay the US Treasury a $200 million settlement to restore all federal funding. Days later, Brown University reached a deal in which it would pay Rhode Island workforce development organizations $50 million in grants over 10 years. Cornell University agreed in November to pay the Trump administration $30 million over three years.

By Lex Harvey and Betsy Klein