President Trump said Tuesday that his administration is close to finalizing an agreement that would end its monthslong standoff with Harvard University, though the school has not yet confirmed that a deal is in place.
“I guess we reached a deal with Harvard today,” Trump said during a signing ceremony for unrelated executive orders at the White House Tuesday afternoon. “All you have to do is paper it, right Linda?” he added, speaking to Secretary of Education Linda McMahon, who responded “Yes sir.”
In response to a question from a reporter, Trump said that Harvard would be paying $500 million to go toward running a series of trade schools. He clarified that a deal had not yet been finalized, but that the parties were close.
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“They’re going to be teaching people how to do AI and lots of other things. Engines, lots of things,” Trump said. “It’s a big investment in trade schools, done by very smart people, and then their sins are forgiven. So we have a good chance of getting that closed.”
Spokespeople for Harvard did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A White House spokesperson referred the Globe to Trump’s remarks.
Talks between the Harvard and the White House to restore Harvard’s funding and resolve a number of other federal investigations resumed over the summer but had stalled in recent weeks. Harvard earlier this month saw a legal win when a judge in federal court in Boston ruled the Trump administration had used allegations of antisemitism as a “smokescreen” for withholding federal dollars and ordered the federal government to resume Harvard’s funding.
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The Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Civil Rights on Monday formally recommended to bar Harvard from receiving any federal funds.
Two of Harvard’s Ivy League peers, Columbia University and Brown University, earlier this year agreed to making payments to resolve their own funding freezes and investigations from the government: Columbia agreed to make a $200 million payment directly to the government, while Brown agreed to invest $50 million in Rhode Island work force programs.
But Trump has for months indicated he wanted Harvard, the richest and most well-known university in the nation, to pay more. During a Cabinet meeting in August, Trump said he wanted Harvard to commit to paying at least $500 million to end the government’s funding freeze and resolve a number of other federal investigations.
Aidan Ryan can be reached at aidan.ryan@globe.com. Follow him @aidanfitzryan. Anjali Huynh can be reached at anjali.huynh@globe.com.