White House freezes more than $2.2 billion in grants and $60 million in contracts for Ivy League school after it refuses to comply with long list of ideological demands
Rachel Clun Trump says he’d like to deport “homegrown” American citizens to a prisons in El Salvador
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Former president Barack Obama has condemned the Trump administration’s freezing of $2.3 billion in funding to Harvard University as “unlawful” and “ham-handed.”
The White House has frozen more than $2.2 billion in grants and $60 million in contracts for Harvard University after the school refused to comply with a long list of demands.
The university said it would not “surrender its independence or relinquish its constitutional rights”, after the administration demanded it make sweeping changes to its leadership, governance and admissions.
Earlier, the U.K. stock market surged in response to comments from vice president JD Vance said there was a “good chance” of a trade deal between the U.S. and Britain.
The comments were welcomed in Westminster, as more countries work during the 90-day pause on aggressive tariffs to get those duties delayed further or reduced.
Chinese president Xi Jinping’s tour of southeast Asian countries hit hard by tariffs has continued, Donald Trump said deals done there were intended to “screw” the U.S.
Trump learns ‘Make America great again’ in Spanish
Donald Trump has learned – in part – how to say “Make America great again”.
In a preview of an interview with his preferred television network Fox, the host says she would like to teach the president how to say “let’s make America great again” in Spanish, and gives Trump the phrase.
“Vamos hacer America grande otra vez,” she said.
“America grande otra vez,” Trump replied, which is “America great again”.Fox News host teaches Trump Spanish
Trump tells Fox he would ‘love’ to send ‘homegrown criminals’ to El Salvador
The president said he would love to send “homegrown criminals to prisons in El Salvador.
The comments come after Trump hosted El Salvador’s president Nayib Bukele at the White House on Monday.
The Central American leader has accepted more than 200 Venezuelan immigrants from America and put them in the country’s notorious gang prison.
In a preview of a Fox interview airing later today, Trump said Bukele was building other “very big prisons”.
“We’re using his system because we’re getting rid of our criminals from out of the United States that were allowed to come in by Biden,” he said.
Asked whether America could also extradite its own citizens who were criminals to El Salvador, Trump said he called them “homegrown criminals”.
“We are looking into it and we want to do it, I would love to do that,” he said.Trump tells Fox he’d love to send ‘homegrown criminals’ to El Salvador
Justice Department charges man with arson at New Mexico Tesla dealership and GOP headquarters
The Justice Department has charged a man with vandalizing a Tesla dealership in New Mexico and setting fire to the headquarters of the state Republican Party, according to court records unsealed Monday.
A criminal complaint charges Jamison R. Wagner, 40, with federal arson charges in connection with the vandalism in February at a Tesla showroom in Bernalillo, where authorities found two Tesla Model Y vehicles ablaze as well as spray-painted graffiti messages including “Die Elon” and “Die Tesla Nazi.”
Elon Musk is the billionaire CEO of Tesla and a close ally of President Donald Trump who has helped engineer a massive downsizing of the federal government and purge of employees.
Why Trump is jailing student activists in Louisiana, where thousands of immigrants are detained in private prisons
Columbia University graduate Mahmoud Khalil was arrested in his apartment building, sent to a New Jersey detention center and then flown to a facility in Louisiana. Tufts University doctoral student Rumeysa Ozturk was on her way to dinner with friends when she was arrested, moved to facilities in New Hampshire and Vermont, and then sent to another Louisiana detention center. Georgetown University Badar Khan Suri was shipped to a facility in Texas after spending three days in yet another Louisiana detention center.
A series of high-profile arrests targeting international student activists and academics for their Palestinian activism — and decisions from Donald Trump’s administration to detain them hundreds of miles away in remote prisons — have renewed scrutiny into a sprawling network of facilities plagued by reports of abuse and neglect.
Watch: Gavin Newsom launches international campaign to encourage Canadians to visit California in dig at Trump
The Golden State’s governor has said the scheme is being launched in response to “recent declines in tourism created by Donald Trump’s policies.”Gavin Newsom launches international campaign to encourage Canadians to visit CalifornIa in dig at Trump
China accuses U.S agents of cyberattacks
China’s foreign ministry has urged the U.S. to “adopt a responsible attitude on cybersecurity issues and stop its cyberattacks”, after reports police were investigating three people with suspected links to American spy agencies.
Chinese state media foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jian reported police in the northern city of Harbin were pursuing three operatives linked to the National Security Agency for suspected cyberattacks in China.
China’s Global Times reports that investigations found the three were involved in cyberattacks against information infrastructure during the Asian Winter Games.
Vance attacks ‘left-wing industrial complex’ over Kilmar Abrego Garcia
The vice president complains on X that the administration’s refusal to do anything about the wrongful deportation of a Maryland father is getting too much media coverage.
This exchange pretty much sums the situation up:
Harvard refusing to take harassment of Jewish students seriously, task force claims
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has just issued this statement on behalf of its task force and the row surrounding federal funding for Harvard University:
“Harvard’s statement reinforces the troubling entitlement mindset that is endemic in our nation’s most prestigious universities and colleges – that federal investment does not come with the responsibility to uphold civil rights laws.
“The disruption of learning that has plagued campuses in recent years is unacceptable.
“The harassment of Jewish students is intolerable. It is time for elite universities to take the problem seriously and commit to meaningful change if they wish to continue receiving taxpayer support.
“The Joint Task Force to combat anti-Semitism is announcing a freeze on $2.2 billion in multi-year grants and $60m in multi-year contract value to Harvard University.”
Trump hails Nvidia AI supercomputer deal as start of ‘Golden Age’
Here’s the president’s first Truth Social post of the day:
He follows that up with the following claim about the US-Mexico border:
Harvard ‘will not surrender its independence’
Harvard University publicly responded to demands from the Trump administration to overhaul its leadership, governance and student admissions or face losing billions in federal funding.
In a letter from its lawyers – including Robert K. Hur previously appointed by Donald Trump to serve as U.S Attorney for the District of Maryland – the university said it would “not surrender its independence”.
Harvard said it has undertaken “substantial” work to improve its policies and tackle antisemitism to make its campus a “place in which everyone can thrive”, and said it was unfortunate the administration had overlooked those efforts.
“The university will not surrender its independence or relinquish its constitutional rights. Neither Harvard nor any other private university can allow itself to be taken over by the federal government. Accordingly, Harvard will not accept the government’s terms as an agreement in principle,” the letter said.
