The Trump administration has directed the Internal Revenue Service’s top legal official to consider revoking Harvard University’s tax-exempt status, according to the Washington Post, citing three people familiar with the matter. The move represents a significant escalation in the administration’s conflict with the Ivy League institution over its handling of antisemitism and diversity practices.

The request was made to Andrew De Mello, the IRS’s acting chief counsel, on Wednesday by officials at the Treasury Department. De Mello has not yet decided whether to act on it, according to the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss internal deliberations.

Of note, Harvard - which has a $53.2 billion endowment - dodged "at least $465 million" in 2023 due to the tax exemption, according to a Bloomberg analysis cited by the Free Beacon's Peter J. Hasson

The directive follows the administration’s broader efforts to pressure higher education institutions it views as “woke,” the sources said. Earlier this month, the Trump administration demanded sweeping authority over Harvard’s admissions, hiring, and curricular decisions, as well as its response to student activism related to the conflict between Israel and Hamas. Harvard rejected those demands on Monday. Hours later, the administration announced it would freeze more than $2 billion in federal funding to the university.

The next day, President Trump posted on his social media platform Truth Social, “Perhaps Harvard should lose its Tax Exempt Status,” and falsely claimed the institution has supported terrorism.

The request to revoke Harvard’s tax-exempt status was first reported by CNN. While nonprofit status is granted to educational institutions under federal tax law, it comes with restrictions - particularly a prohibition on certain political activity. Legal experts say there is no public evidence that Harvard has violated those rules.

According to federal law, the authority to investigate or alter a nonprofit’s tax status rests solely with the IRS, and the president is explicitly prohibited from ordering or influencing such actions against individual taxpayers or entities.

Former House GOP leader Newt Gingrich thinks it's just the beginning... “I think they’re going to go after a whole bunch of them,” said Gingrich. "I’m not sure why we need to be funding people who aggressively refuse to give up a variety of values and structures that most Americans don’t agree with."

The Trump administration has taken steps in recent months to increase political control over the IRS. De Mello was appointed acting chief counsel in March after the administration demoted a career IRS lawyer who had reportedly resisted efforts to access confidential tax records in pursuit of undocumented immigrants.

In a separate development, Gary Shapley, appointed by Trump as acting commissioner of the IRS, reportedly told staff that revoking the tax-free status of certain nonprofit groups flagged by Republican lawmakers was one of his top priorities. That includes organizations that oppose Israel’s military campaign in Gaza and a Georgia-based political group aligned with Democratic candidates, according to people briefed on the conversations.

Rep. Jason T. Smith (R-MO), chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, has called on the IRS to strip nonprofit status from groups opposing Israel’s war effort.

The IRS has previously faced controversy over its treatment of politically active nonprofit groups. In 2013, the agency acknowledged using politically loaded keywords to scrutinize organizations seeking tax-exempt status. Although that process initially drew criticism for targeting conservative groups, an inspector general’s investigation later revealed that liberal organizations were also subjected to increased scrutiny.