Leo Terrell, head of the Justice Department’s Antisemitism Task Force, blamed the Biden administration for allowing antisemitism to grow in the United States and warned on Tuesday that the Trump administration would no longer “tolerate” it.
President Donald Trump‘s administration sought to divert all remaining federal contracts away from Harvard University on Tuesday over the school’s alleged failure to address campus antisemitism. Amid the administration’s feud with the school, a judge temporarily blocked it from viewing the university’s list of foreign students. However, Terrell warned that Trump would be “going nowhere” in this fight.
“We have to match them in court, Harris,” Terrell said on Fox News’s The Faulkner Focus. “This is going to be a battle in the courtroom. If it goes all the way to the Supreme Court, Trump is going to do that. That’s why the Department of Justice, that’s why the task force is here. Four years ago, nothing happened, but we’re going to have to file these lawsuits. We’re going to have to take that money away.”
Terrell said antisemitism has ramped up, adding that the shooting of two Israeli Embassy diplomats in Washington, D.C., last week was “horrific.” He argued that this level of hate toward the Jewish community has become normalized.
Going forward, Terrell said those failing to stop antisemitism on their campuses can expect “massive lawsuits” and hate crime charges from the DOJ, suggesting there are “numerous ways to hurt them financially.”
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Terrell also detailed his recent meeting with New York City Mayor Eric Adams, who created a new office to combat antisemitism earlier this month. Terrell said he left the meeting “ecstatic” to learn that the DOJ has “a new partner” in Adams.
Billionaire Bill Ackman, a Harvard alumnus, also recently said the university must “comply” with the Trump administration’s request for records. He lamented seeing Harvard “self-immolate” over “gross mismanagement.”