Trump rages as Jewish judge rips administration apart for stripping 'antisemitic' Harvard of its funding in blistering courtroom showdown
Judge Allison Burroughs is presiding over the tense lawsuit to determine whether the Trump administration can legally defund Harvard for not taking a strong enough stance against antisemitism on campus.
While she did not issue a ruling in Monday's hearing, her barrage of questions toward the administration's lawyer and her status as an Obama-era appointee was enough for Trump to find fault with her handling of the case.
'The Harvard case was just tried in Massachusetts before an Obama appointed Judge. She is a TOTAL DISASTER, which I say even before hearing her ruling,' he wrote in a Truth Social post.
'She has systematically taken over the various Harvard cases, and is an automatic 'loss' for the people of our country!
'How did this Trump-hating Judge get these cases? When she rules against us, we will IMMEDIATELY appeal, and WIN.'
Trump argued Harvard 'has $52 billion dollars sitting in the bank, and yet they are anti-Semitic, anti-Christian, and anti-America.'
'Much of this money comes from the USA, all to the detriment of other schools, colleges, and institutions,' he wrote, adding, 'we are not going to allow this unfair situation to happen any longer.'
Trump vowed to 'not stop until there is victory', promising to cut funding to Harvard no matter how much effort it took.
But if Judge Burroughs rules in Harvard's favour, it could make Trump's promise hard to deliver on.
Steven Lehotsky, representing Harvard, said at Monday's hearing the case is about the government trying to control the 'inner workings' of the institution.
At Monday's hearing, Harvard asked to reverse funding freezes in an effort to revive Harvard's sprawling scientific and medical research operation and hundreds of projects that lost federal money.
A lawyer for the government, Michael Velchik, said the Trump administration has authority to cancel the grants after determining the funding did not align with its priorities, namely Trump's executive order combating antisemitism.
He argued Harvard allowed antisemitism to flourish at the university following the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led attacks on Israel.
He said protesters had camped out on campus chanting antisemitic slogans and cited attacks on Jewish students.
'Harvard claims the government is anti-Harvard. I reject that,' Velchik, a Harvard alumnus, said.
'The government is pro-Jewish students at Harvard. The government is pro-Jewish faculty at Harvard.'
Judge Burroughs pushed back, at one point describing the government's assertions as 'mind-boggling.'
'What I'm wrestling with is this idea that the executive branch can decide what is discriminatory or racist,' she said.
'You're saying you can terminate a contract for any and all reasons, even if the reason you're giving is a violation of the Constitution? I don't think you can justify a contract action based on impermissible suppression of speech.'
Velchik said the case comes down to the government's choosing how best to spend billions of dollars in research funding.
Judge Burroughs said: 'Let's assume for the sake of argument that Harvard has not covered itself in glory on the topic of antisemitism.'
Noting her own Jewish faith, the judge asked what the relationship was between antisemitism and cutting funding to cancer research.
'You're not taking away grants from labs that have been antisemitic,' she noted.
Despite her strongly worded rebuke, Judge Burroughs did not deliver a verdict at the bench, and is instead expected to issue a written decision at a later date.
Harvard's lawsuit accused the Trump administration of waging a retaliation campaign against the university after it rejected a series of demands from a federal antisemitism task force in April.
The task force's demands included sweeping changes related to campus protests, academics and admissions.
Harvard was told to audit the viewpoints of students and faculty and admit more students or hire new professors if the campus was found to lack diverse points of view.
Harvard President Alan Garber says the university has made changes to combat antisemitism but said no government 'should dictate what private universities can teach, whom they can admit and hire, and which areas of study and inquiry they can pursue.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Independent
6 minutes ago
- The Independent
Democrats and advocates criticize Trump's executive order on homelessness
Leading Democrats and advocates for the homeless are criticizing an executive order President Donald Trump signed this week aimed at removing homeless people from the streets, possibly by committing them for mental health or drug treatment without their consent. Trump directed some of his Cabinet heads to prioritize funding to cities that crack down on open drug use and street camping, with the goal of making people feel safer. It's not compassionate to do nothing, the order states. 'Shifting these individuals into long-term institutional settings for humane treatment is the most proven way to restore public order,' the order reads. Homelessness has become a bigger problem in recent years as the cost of housing increased, especially in states such as California where there aren't enough homes to meet demand. At the same time, drug addiction and overdoses have soared with the availability of cheap and potent fentanyl. The president's order might be aimed at liberal cities such as San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York, which Trump views as too lax about conditions on their streets. But many of the concepts have already been proposed or tested in California, where Gov. Gavin Newsom and Democratic mayors have worked for years to get people off the streets and into treatment. Last year, the U.S. Supreme Court made it easier for cities to clear encampments even if the people living in them have nowhere else to go. Still, advocates say Trump's new order is vague, punitive and won't effectively end homelessness. Newsom has directed cities to clean up homeless encampments and he's funneled more money into programs to treat addiction and mental health disorders. His office said Friday that Trump's order relies on harmful stereotypes and focuses more on "creating distracting headlines and settling old scores." "But, his imitation (even poorly executed) is the highest form of flattery,' spokesperson Tara Gallegos said in a statement, referring to the president calling for strategies already in use in California. San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie has also emphasized the importance of clean and orderly streets in banning homeless people from living in RVs and urging people to accept the city's offers of shelter. In Silicon Valley, San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan recently pushed a policy change that makes a person eligible for jail if they reject three offers of shelter. Trump's executive order tasks Attorney General Pam Bondi and the secretaries for health, housing and transportation to prioritize grants to states and local governments that enforce bans on open drug use and street camping. Devon Kurtz, the public safety policy director at the Cicero Institute, a conservative policy group that has advocated for several of the provisions of the executive order, said the organization is 'delighted' by the order. He acknowledged that California has already been moving to ban encampments since the Supreme Court's decision. But he said Trump's order adds teeth to that shift, Kurtz said. 'It's a clear message to these communities that were still sort of uncomfortable because it was such a big change in policy,' Kurtz said. But Steve Berg, chief policy officer at the National Alliance to End Homelessness, called parts of the order vague. He said the U.S. abandoned forced institutionalization decades ago because it was too expensive and raised moral and legal concerns. 'What is problematic about this executive order is not so much that law enforcement is involved — it's what it calls on law enforcement to do, which is to forcibly lock people up,' Berg said. 'That's not the right approach to dealing with homelessness.' The mayor of California's most populous city, Los Angeles, is at odds with the Newsom and Trump administrations on homelessness. Mayor Karen Bass, a Democrat, opposes punishing sweeps and says the city has reduced street homelessness by working with homeless people to get them into shelter or housing. 'Moving people from one street to the next or from the street to jail and back again will not solve this problem," she said in a statement. ___
The Independent
6 minutes ago
- The Independent
Promise of ‘a little rebate' suddenly becomes Trump's latest gimmick to distract Americans from the Epstein fallout
In the months after the 2024 presidential election — and understanding what happened with Latino voters and why they shifted to Donald Trump — I called a Democratic operative in Webb County, right in the heart of the Rio Grande Valley of Texas. She told told me that when asking why one voter would back the once and future president, put simply, the voter told them in Spanish, 'I voted for Trump because he's going to give me money.' Famously, at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, Trump signed an economic rescue package that included a $1,200 check. Moreover, Trump sent letters telling people he was the person responsible for it. For many working-class families, the stimulus checks were a lifeline and Trump's approval rating slightly ticked up after sending out the checks, even as he would proceed to make careless mistakes that caused unnecessary deaths in the midst of the pandemic. That conversation came to mind when on Friday, Trump suddenly floated the idea of sending out 'a little rebate' to Americans. 'We're thinking about a little rebate, but the big thing we want to do is pay down debt, but we're thinking about a rebate,' he told a reporter before boarding Marine One on his way to a five-day trip to Scotland. 'We're thinking about a rebate because we have so much money coming in from tariffs, that a little rebate for people of a certain income level might be very nice.' Unsurprisingly, Trump's comments come when voters are souring on the president. On Friday, as he departed, he vehemently denied that he visited the late pedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein's island. During that same gaggle, he said that he could pardon Epstein's enabler and occasional girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell. Fewer than 30 percent of independents approve of him, according to a new Gallup poll and he has an overall approval rating of 37 percent. His approval among men, a central part of his 2024 victory, now sits below 50 percent. And no matter how much he tries to deflect, blame the Democrats for ' the Jeffrey Epstein SCAM,' he has been unable to escape the stench of it. This week, House Speaker Mike Johnson had to dismiss the chamber a day early for the summer recess to prevent enough MAGA Republicans from teaming up with the Democrats to sign a discharge petition to force a vote to release the Epstein files. Even some of Trump's most devoted supporters like Reps. Scott Perry of Pennsylvania and Nancy Mace of South Carolina joined with Democrats in a subcommittee to subpoena the Department of Justice to hand over documents related to Epstein. In the Senate, Democrats smell blood in the water, as Sens. Cory Booker of New Jersey and Ruben Gallego of Arizona attempted to force the release of files related to Epstein. Both men obviously see themselves as potential Oval Office occupants and see this as an opportunity to gain points with the base and the American public. Manosphere podcasters like Theo Von and Andrew Schulz's Flagrant with Akaash Singh who played a key role with non-college educated sports-loving dudes breaking for Trump are turning on Trump. But this will likely not happen for a number of reasons. For one, the stimulus checks in 2020 came during a once-in-a-century pandemic that required people to stay home and therefore lose their jobs. The checks made sure people had enough to meet their basic needs while keeping demand steady enough. Pumping money into the economy now when unemployment is relatively low — and Trump frequently touts how 'hot' the country is right now — would do nothing but overheat the economy, drive up demand and cause inflation to spike, the very formula that killed killed Joe Biden and Kamala Harris' White House runs and allowed Trump to return to Washington. This is to say nothing of his desite for the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates, which could drive up inflation and his 'reciprocal tariffs.' None of that matters though, Trump is trying to rekindle the same tricks that helped him in the past. It's the same rationale for Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard's saying that Barack Obama staged a 'coup' and his rage against Joe Biden's autopen. Trump is in a position of his own creation and trying to dig himself out with the old tricks. But this time it might not work. Even now, some people might take his stimulus checks and then still not like him. After all, that happened in 2020.
Daily Mail
6 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Massive security operation kicks in as the US President touches down in Scotland to huge cheering crowds... with only a limp handful protesters
Donald Trump touched down in Scotland to cheering crowds amid a massive security operation that spans the country. Air Force One landed at the nationalised Prestwick Airport shortly before 8.30pm ahead of the President's four full days of talks and leisure time at his golf courses on the Ayrshire coast and in Aberdeenshire. Huge crowds of onlookers applauded his arrival while only a handful of protesters held up crude placards outside Turnberry. The visit is expected to require a security operation as big as the arrangements for the late Queen Elizabeth II 's funeral in September 2022 - involving up to 6,000 officers - with taxpayers again facing a bill of more than £3million for policing his stay. This trip has now commandeered almost a third of Police Scotland's manpower to make sure things go smoothly and saw officers in high viz vests swarming over greens, tees, fairways and DC while snipers overlooked it from watchtowers. Major protests are planned to take place in Aberdeen and Edinburgh on Saturday with officers from other forces brought in to bolster the Scots force. Rounds were still being played but the golf was happening behind miles of newly erected 10ft fences with ultra-fine mesh to keep protesters away. During the visit, Mr Trump will hold talks with the Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, First Minister John Swinney and European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen. On the Prestwick runway Mr Trump renewed his war against the expansion of wind farms, which he previously opposed off the coast of his Menie course in Aberdeenshire. He told reporters: 'I say two things to Europe: stop the windmills, you are ruining your countries. 'I really mean it. It's so sad, you fly over and you see these windmills all over the place ruining your beautiful fields and valleys and killing your birds and if they are stuck in your oceans ruining your oceans. 'On immigration, you'd better get your act together or you are not going to have Europe any more.' He said he will be meeting with 'numerous executives' and 'a lot of people' at Turnberry and Aberdeen, which he said 'is the oil capital of Europe'. He said his talks with Sir Keir will be a 'celebration' of the US/UK trade deal but played down the prospects of changes, saying 'the deal is concluded'. Mr Trump also talked up the prospect of his Turnberry resort hosting the Open and dismissing concerns that infrastructure must be improved first. He said: 'I don't know, the best course anywhere in the world is Turnberry, the players all want to be at Turnberry, everybody wants to be at Turnberry so we will see how that works out.' As he set off from the White House on Air Force One, President Trump spoke of his love for Scotland and said at the time that he wants to talk about improvements to the US/UK trade deal with Sir Keir. After landing late at Prestwick, he travelled to Trump Turnberry. Business leaders say the trip is a 'huge opportunity' to strengthen Scotland's economic ties with the world's biggest economy and can pave the way for detailed discussions on trade and tariffs. Talking about his plans with Sir Keir before leaving the US, Mr Trump said they will be having dinner at Turnberry then travelling to Aberdeen, which he described as 'the oil capital of Europe' to have lunch. He said: 'We are going to have a good time, the Prime Minister and I get along very well.' On his proposed meeting with Mr Swinney, he said: 'I have a lot of love (for Scotland), my mother was born in Scotland. 'The Scottish leader's a good man, and I look forward to meeting him.' Turning to an aide, he said: 'That's all set up, right?' Scotch whisky chiefs are desperate for the President to reduce or scrap the 10 per cent duty imposed on exports of malts and blends to the US. Asked whether he will be doing any business deals with the UK, he said: 'Yeah I'm going to meet with the Prime Minister right now, we're going to be over there in about six hours, we're meeting with the Prime Minister tonight. 'We're going to be talking about the trade deal that we made and maybe even improve it.' He added that they will discuss 'certain aspects that are good for both countries' and also 'do a little celebrating'. Mr Trump was greeted by Labour's Scottish Secretary Ian Murray at Turnberry, despite the Edinburgh South MP previously backing a House of Commons motion which called for his 2019 State visit to be cancelled and accused him of 'misogynism, racism and xenophobia'. The Chancellor Rachel Reeves yesterday said the President's visit to Scotland is in the 'national interest'. She said: 'It's in Britain's national interest to have strong relations with the US administration and as a result of both that long-term special relationship, but actually more importantly, the work that our Prime Minister Keir Starmer has done in building that relationship with President Trump has meant that we were the first country in the world to secure a trade deal. 'That has a tangible benefit for people here in Scotland, whether it is people working in the Scotch whisky industry or people working in the defence sector like here at Rolls-Royce, that trade deal means lower tariffs than any country in the world on things that we send to the US.' Business leaders hope the visit will pave the way for agreements which can boost the Scottish and UK economies. Dr Liz Cameron, chief executive of the Scottish Chambers of Commerce, said: 'There are £30 billion reasons why the USA matters to Scotland and President Trump's visit is a fantastic platform to showcase the best of Scottish business on a global stage. 'We have a President who understands business, is a deal maker, is personally and financially invested in our nation, and appreciates the value of our world class products and services. 'That's a strong basis for a special relationship and a huge opportunity to strengthen Scotland's economic ties with the world's biggest economy and our largest export market outside the EU.' Ahead of his own talks with the President, Mr Swinney said the meeting will be an opportunity to 'essentially speak out for Scotland' on international issues such as Gaza, as well as trade and the increase of business from the United States in Scotland. He said: 'There are clearly also significant international issues upon which the people of Scotland have a view and want to have that view expressed by their First Minister. 'That relates to the awfulness of the situation in Gaza and the unbearable human suffering that is going on in Gaza. 'I want to make sure that those concerns and those views are expressed to the president of the United States. 'We have that opportunity, and I intend to take that opportunity to make sure that Scotland's voice is heard.' Mr Swinney also urged all of those set to protest against the president's visit to do so 'peacefully and to do so within the law'. European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen will meet US President Donald Trump in Scotland on Sunday. Ms von der Leyen made the announcement on X, saying: 'Following a good call with @POTUS, we have agreed to meet in Scotland on Sunday to discuss transatlantic trade relations, and how we can keep them strong.'
