Trump Eyes Targeting More Tax-exempt Groups While Denouncing Harvard

President Donald Trump on Thursday ramped up his threats to scrutinize the tax-exempt status of groups and colleges he disagrees with, calling out a prominent organization that's fighting some of his actions in court.

Trump told reporters "we're looking at" Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), a nonprofit watchdog group that has launched litigation against his executive actions and conducted investigations into what it alleges are his conflicts of interest.

“The only charity they had is going after Donald Trump. So we’re looking at that. We’re looking at a lot of things,” Trump said.

At the same time, he doubled down on the administration's unprecedented assault against Harvard, calling the university "a disgrace."

CREW did not immediately return a request for comment. But one of its partners in the litigation strongly condemned Trump's comments.

“Americans' most cherished freedom is that we have a right to say what we believe without fear of governmental persecution," said Public Citizen co-presidents Lisa Gilbert and Robert Weissman, in a statement. “President Trump’s comments threatening the charitable status of CREW because of the views the organization has expressed is a direct assault on that most cherished of freedoms."

“The threat is not just to CREW, but to any and all of us," they said.

Trump's comments came amid reports that administration officials have asked the IRS to revoke Harvard's tax-exempt status, which, if carried out, could hit the school with huge tax bills.

“I think Harvard’s a disgrace. I think what they did is a disgrace. They’re obviously antisemitic, and all of a sudden they’re starting to behave,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.

“But tax-exempt status, I mean, it’s a privilege. It’s really a privilege. And it’s been abused by a lot more than Harvard," he said, mentioning Columbia and Princeton universities.

Trump appears unbowed by laws that expressly prohibit the executive branch from asking the IRS to intercede in the audits of specific taxpayers. He said lawyers were handling the Harvard matter and that they hadn't yet "made a final ruling."

According to the Washington Post, officials at the Treasury Department sent the request targeting Harvard to the IRS’s top lawyer Andrew De Mello on Wednesday.

The move followed the university’s refusal to comply with wide-ranging demands by the administration to change its admissions and hiring policies. The government has already frozen more than $2.2 billion in federal funds to the institution.

GOP lawmakers have defended Trump’s actions, arguing that Harvard endangered Jewish students on its campus amid protests against Israel's 2023 invasion of Gaza following Hamas' surprise attack on Israel.

Jason Newton, a spokesperson for Harvard, said in an email that “there is no legal basis to rescind Harvard’s tax-exempt status.”

“Such an unprecedented action would endanger our ability to carry out our educational mission,” Newton said. “The unlawful use of this instrument more broadly would have grave consequences for the future of higher education in America.”