The Harvard University logo is displayed on a building at the school, Tuesday, April 15, 2025, in Cambridge, Mass. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)2025-05-02T13:53:03Z WASHINGTON (AP) President Donald Trump on Friday re-upped his threat to strip Harvard University of its tax-exempt status, escalating a showdown with the first major college that has defied the administrations efforts to crack down on campus activism. Hes underscoring that pledge even as federal law prohibits senior members of the executive branch from asking the Internal Revenue Service to conduct or terminate an audit or an investigation. The White House has said any IRS actions will be conducted independently of the president. We are going to be taking away Harvards Tax Exempt Status, Trump wrote on his social media site Friday morning from Palm Beach, Florida, where he is spending the weekend. Its what they deserve!The president has questioned the fate of Harvards tax-exempt status which a majority of U.S. colleges and universities have ever since the school refused to comply with the administrations demands for broad government and leadership changes, revisions to its admissions policy, and audits of how diversity is viewed on the campus. That prompted the administration to block more than $2 billion in federal grants to the Cambridge, Massachusetts, institution. The Treasury Department directed a senior official at the Internal Revenue Service to begin the process of revoking Harvards tax-exempt status shortly after a social media post from Trump in mid-April questioning it, although the White House has suggested that the tax agencys scrutiny of Harvard began before Trumps public comments targeting the school. Democrats say Trumps actions against Harvard are purely political. The Senate minority leader, Chuck Schumer, along with Massachusetts two Democratic senators, Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey, and the Senate Finance Committee chairman, Ron Wyden of Oregon, called for an inspector general investigation into Trumps attempts to strip Harvard of its tax-exempt status. Trumps move raises troubling constitutional questions, including whether the president is trying to squelch Harvards free speech rights and whether the revocation of its tax-exempt status will deprive the university of its due process rights, the senators wrote in a letter Friday to Heather Hill, the acting Treasury inspector general for tax administration. Mike Kaercher, deputy director of NYUs Tax Law Center, said: Overwhelming bipartisan majorities in Congress have enacted laws making it a crime for the President and his staff to request an audit or investigation of a particular taxpayer.An IRS representative did not respond to an Associated Press request for comment. Trumps battle against Harvard is part of a broader campaign the administration is framing as an effort to root out antisemitism on college campuses. But the White House also sees a political upside in the fight, framing it as a bigger war against elite institutions decried by Trumps loyal supporters. The next chapter of the American story will not be written by The Harvard Crimson, Trump said Thursday night in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, where he delivered the commencement address at the University of Alabama. It will be written by you, the Crimson Tide. The Harvard Crimson is that schools student newspaper. The Crimson Tide refers to the Alabama schools football program.In addition to threatening Harvards tax-exempt status and halting federal grants, the Trump administration wants to block Harvard from being able to enroll international students.___Associated Press writer Fatima Hussein contributed to this report. SEUNG MIN KIM Kim covers the White House for The Associated Press. She joined the AP in 2022 and is based in Washington. twitter mailto