Did Trump vs Harvard row begin due to a 'mistake'? White House official reveals

There has been a dramatic twist of turn in the ongoing Trump vs Harvard row after a Trump administration official said that the letter sent by the White House’s antisemitism task force was a "mistake", and "should not have been sent", the New York Times reported. 

Harvard University received a letter from the White House's antisemitism task force on April 11, which had a series of demands raised by Trump about hiring, admissions and curricular terms. However, the Ivy League officials refused to accept it.

The Trump officials have now claimed that the letter which was sent by the acting general counsel of the Department of Health and Human Services, Sean Keveney, was sent in error. 

The letter should not have been sent and was “unauthorized,” two people familiar with the matter said.

The content of the letter was authentic, however, it is unclear what prompted the letter to be sent, the three people said. 

Some people at the White House believed it had been sent prematurely, according to the three people, who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about internal discussions.

While others believe that the letter was meant to be circulated among the task force members rather than sent to Harvard. 

However, Harvard got the letter when the university's officials believed they could still avert a confrontation with Trump. 

Over the last two weeks, Harvard and Trump's officials had engaged in a dialogue, but, the letter's demands were so extreme that Harvard concluded that a deal would ultimately be impossible. 

After the Ivy League's refusal of demands, the Trump administration increased the pressure on Harvard by freezing billions in federal funding and warned that its tax-exempt status would be revoked. 

However, a White House official stood by the letter, saying, “It was malpractice on the side of Harvard’s lawyers not to pick up the phone and call the members of the antisemitism task force who they had been talking to for weeks."

May Mailman, the White House senior policy strategist added, “Instead, Harvard went on a victimhood campaign.”