Trump says administration close to finalizing federal funding deal with Harvard University

President Donald Trump indicated on Tuesday that his administration is close to finalizing a deal with Harvard University to restore $2.4 billion in federal grants.

“I guess we reached a deal with Harvard today. All you have to do is paper it, right, Linda?” Trump asked Education Secretary Linda McMahon in the Oval Office.

“Yes, sir. Paper it out,” she replied.

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“We’re in the process of getting very close, and Linda is finishing up the final details, and they’d be paying about $500 million,” Trump said. “And they’ll be operating trade schools, and they’ll be teaching people how to do AI and lots of other things. Engines, lots of things.”

Trump and Harvard have battled over his decision to slash billions in federal funds. The terms of the deal were not made clear.

Earlier this year, the Trump administration froze $2.2 billion in funding for the university and threatened to revoke its tax-exempt status due to the Ivy League school’s alleged failure to address antisemitism on campus.

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Harvard successfully challenged the freeze in court, with a judge accusing the administration of weaponizing antisemitism as a pretext for an “ideologically motivated assault” on the university.

The Trump administration and Harvard nearly reached a settlement in August. Terms of the deal called for Harvard to spend $500 million on workforce programs in exchange for the restoration of billions in federal funding.

Fox News Digital has reached out to Harvard and the White House.

Trump has threatened other universities over their alleged failures to rein in antisemitism during anti-Israel protests.

Fox News Digital’s Marc Tamasco contributed to this report.