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Trump suggests giving trade schools money from Harvard

(NYT) — President Donald Trump floated a new plan Monday for the $3 billion he wants to strip from Harvard University, saying in a social media post that he was thinking about using the money to fund vocational schools.

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“I am considering taking THREE BILLION DOLLARS of Grant Money away from a very antisemitic Harvard, and giving it to TRADE SCHOOLS all across our land,” Trump posted on Truth Social, his social media platform.

The announcement did not appear to refer to any new cut in funding, but rather to a redistribution of money the administration already announced it had frozen or stripped from Harvard and its research partners.

Trump gave no details about how such a plan would work.

The message was accompanied by yet another post accusing Harvard of being slow to respond to the administration’s requests for information on “foreign student lists.” Trump said his administration wanted them in order to determine how many “radicalized lunatics, troublemakers all, should not be let back into our Country.”

Harvard declined Monday to comment on the president’s post.

Harvard is battling the White House in federal court in Boston to secure the reinstatement of grants and contracts the government has frozen or withdrawn, amounting to more than $3 billion. In a separate lawsuit, the university is also fighting Trump’s plan to take away the university’s right to admit international students.

It was not clear exactly what Trump meant by “foreign student lists.” The federal government, which issues visas, already has in its databases the names and countries of the approximately 6,800 international students enrolled at Harvard. The government requested the university’s disciplinary records on those students, as well as video images of student demonstrations — requests that were part of a far-reaching list of demands with which Harvard has only partially complied.

Much of the money for Harvard that the administration has frozen involves research funding for scientific studies of disease.

Jason Altmire, who heads an association of trade schools and for-profit colleges, applauded Trump’s suggestion Monday, though he said the best thing the federal government could do to help his group’s members would be to reduce regulation of them.

Longtime US House lawmaker Charles Rangel dies at 94

WASHINGTON (Reuters) — Former U.S. Representative Charles Rangel, a founding member of the Congressional Black Caucus and chair of the powerful tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee, died on Monday, New York lawmakers said.

Rangel, 94, an African American who had been the face of Harlem politics for decades and an influential lawmaker, stepped down from Congress in 2016 after more than 45 years in office. The Democratic lawmaker was a key player in efforts to help President Barack Obama pass legislation in 2010 to revamp U.S. healthcare and make other major tax changes.

Congress in 1987 approved the “Rangel Amendment” that he championed to revise the U.S. tax code to bar foreign tax credits for U.S. companies that invested in apartheid-era South Africa. Rangel was one of the key lawmakers who wrote legislation in 2000 to normalize trade relations with China and pushed for years to lift the U.S. trade ban on Cuba.

Rangel in 2010 was censured by the House after failing to pay taxes on rent he earned from a property in the Dominican Republic and misusing his office to secure fundraising. He was forced to step down as chair of the Ways and Means Committee.

Rangel dropped out of high school to work at age 16 and was later wounded in U.S. Army service during the Korean War. He later graduated from New York University and received a law degree from St. John’s University Law School.

He began his congressional career in 1971 after defeating Adam Clayton Powell Jr., and was the 10th longest-serving U.S. House member in history. Rangel helped steer billions of dollars in federal spending to New York.

Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer of New York said on Monday Rangel was “someone who never stopped fighting for his constituents and the best of America.”

Last week, Democratic U.S. Representative Gerald Connolly died at age 75 following his cancer diagnosis. Six House Democrats have died in office since April 2024.

President pardons former sheriff convicted of bribery

WASHINGTON (Reuters) — President Donald Trump issued a pardon on Monday for a former Virginia sheriff who was convicted last year of federal bribery charges, averting prison time for the officer.

“Sheriff Scott Jenkins, his wife Patricia, and their family have been dragged through HELL,” Trump posted online, issuing a full and unconditional pardon. “He will NOT be going to jail tomorrow, but instead will have a wonderful and productive life.”

Jenkins, a former Virginia sheriff who served an area about two hours outside Washington, D.C., was convicted by a jury in December 2024 for accepting more than $75,000 in bribes in exchange for appointments as auxiliary deputy sheriffs.

In March, Jenkins was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison.

The bribes came from several people in the form of campaign contributions, and in exchange, they were sworn into deputy sheriff positions and received badges and credentials, according to court documents and evidence presented at the trial.