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The Trump administration’s battle with Harvard University has helped to unite the previously divided campus, a Harvard employee told CNN on Monday.
Harvard President Alan Garber rejected White House demands last week to make key policy changes, making the Ivy League school the first elite US university to forcefully push back.
“Garber’s letter sent a jolt of energy through the campus. The Trump administration’s demands were so far beyond the pale. Nothing has united Harvard’s deeply fractured campus more,” the Harvard employee, who declined to be named because they were not authorized to speak publicly, told CNN.
More context: Harvard found itself, along with other higher education institutions, embroiled in controversy over antisemitism on campus and how its leaders have handled it.
Harvard hired Ballard Partners, a lobbying firm with deep ties to President Donald Trump, in January as it prepared for scrutiny from the incoming Trump administration, according to federal lobbying disclosures. Ballard has deep ties to Trump and previously employed White House chief of staff Susie Wiles and Attorney General Pam Bondi.
Since Trump’s re-entry into the White House, his administration has said it would freeze billions in federal funding to Harvard and threatened to rescind the university’s tax-exempt status and take away its ability to host international students.
“There is real concern the administration will go after international students and what this means for the safety of students,” the Harvard employee said.
The standoff with the Trump administration has thrust a “mild-mannered” Garber and publicity-shy Harvard into a confrontation with the White House.
“This was not part of a plan to captain the resistance to the Trump administration. It’s simply not in the DNA of the university. Harvard did not seek out this confrontation but now Harvard will have to see it through,” the employee said. “Every university president is watching because they know if Harvard falls, they’re next.”
President Donald Trump denied today that the Pentagon has become dysfunctional with Secretary Pete Hegseth at the helm.
“There’s no dysfunction at all. Ask the Houthis how much dysfunction they have,” Trump said in response to a question from CNN’s Betsy’s Klein at the White House Easter Egg Roll.
CNN reported earlier Monday morning that Hegseth shared detailed plans about a military operation against the Houthis in Yemen on a second Signal group chat, this one on his personal phone and including his wife, lawyer and brother. Meanwhile, some of Hegseth’s closest advisers, including three former senior officials he fired last week, have been warning that the Pentagon has descended into chaos.
“Pete’s doing a great job. Everybody’s happy with him,” Trump continued. “It’s just fake news. They just make up stories. I guess it’s — sounds like disgruntled employees. He was put there to get rid of a lot of bad people, and that’s what he’s doing. You don’t always have friends when you do that.”
Trump and Hegseth spoke Sunday night on the phone after The New York Times and CNN reported on his sharing of detailed military operation plans in a second Signal chat with his wife, lawyer and brother, a person familiar with the conversation tells CNN. Hegseth addressed the story with Trump directly, this person said.
This post has been updated with reporting on Trump and Hegseth’s call.
This year’s White House Easter Egg Roll is brought to you by big tech.
While the event has long had corporate sponsors, this year marks the first time that there has been outward branding and logos on event signage, which according to legal and ethics experts goes against long-established regulations prohibiting the use of public office for private gain.
Reporters at the Egg Roll are kept in a pen far from some of the branded activities. But CNN observed unprecedented logos across the South Lawn – from the YouTube stage to the Meta photo opportunity to the Amazon reading nook – featuring the logos of big businesses, some more subtle than others.
Last month, CNN first reported on a pitch document circulated to potential sponsors from an outside event production company called Harbinger promising logo and branding opportunities ranging from $75,000 to $200,000.
Among the promises, according to that document: “naming rights for key areas or elements,” “sponsor logos featured on event signage,” “custom-branded baskets, snacks/beverages, or souvenirs,” and “mentions in official event communications and social media posts.”
All funding raised by Harbinger will go to the White House Historical Association, and any leftover money will support other events on the White House South Lawn, including Halloween and Fourth of July festivities.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt defended the move Monday, saying there have “always” been corporate sponsors at the event and cast blame on media.
Watch CNN’s Betsy Klein report from the White House:
@cnnSeveral Big Tech companies bought sponsorships at the White House Easter Egg Roll, as companies are trying to cultivate relationships with President Trump’s administration. CNN’s Betsy Klein reports. #CNN #News
President Donald Trump welcomed visitors to the annual White House Easter Egg Roll, heralding his efforts to “(bring) religion back” at the traditional springtime event.
“Easter is special and it’s one of our favorite days. It’s one of our favorite periods of time. We’re honoring Jesus Christ, and we’re going to honor Jesus Christ very powerfully, powerfully throughout our lives,” he said as he addressed attendees from the Blue Room Balcony.
“We’re bringing religion back in America. We’re bringing a lot of things back, but religion is coming back to America. That’s why you see the kind of numbers that you see, the spirit and the kind of numbers that you see,” he continued.
Trump thanked the Marine Corps Band, the National Park Service, and first lady Melania Trump, who joined him on the balcony alongside the Easter Bunny.
But the president took a veiled political swipe during his remarks.
“Our country is doing very well, we had the highest number of recruits, enlistments. … Since November 5 it’s all happened. … We were setting records. Six months ago we couldn’t get anybody and now we’re setting records,” he said.
The president and first lady, joined by Donald Trump, Jr. and his five children and girlfriend Bettina Anderson, led children in egg rolling, blowing a whistle to start the races. The president also spent several minutes at a picnic table where children were coloring.
“Happy Easter and enjoy your lives,” he told the crowd, which is expected to crack 42,000 today, according to the president.
President Donald Trump honored Pope Francis today at the White House Easter Egg Roll, calling the late pope a “good man.”
“I just signed an executive order putting the flags of our country… at half-mast in honor of Pope Francis,” Trump said as he addressed a crowd on the South Lawn from the Blue Room Balcony.
Trump continued, “He was a good man. He worked hard. He loved the world. And it’s an honor to do that.”
He told reporters he is unsure if he will attend the funeral at St. Peter’s Square in Vatican City and he is “going to be briefed on it right now.”
Trump met the pope at the Vatican during his first term in 2017. Francis had been publicly critical of the Trump administration’s immigration policies.
Trump said he agrees with Pope Francis’ message of tolerance toward migrants. “Yeah, I do, I do,” Trump said. “I really do.”
Commenting more on the pope’s legacy, Trump said: “He’s a very good man who loved the world. And he especially loved people that were having a hard time. And that’s good with me.”
Earlier today, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said there is no travel planned “at this time” for Trump to attend the funeral, which could occur later this week. Still, she didn’t rule out a trip to Rome for the funeral.
Trump later sent his love to Catholics in the wake of Pope Francis’ death, before quickly turning his remarks toward his strength among Catholic voters.
“We love you all, we’re with you all. They were with me through the election, as you know, very strongly,” Trump said. “It’s just an honor to have the support of the Catholics. I feel very badly for them because they love the pope.”
Follow our coverage of the pope’s death here.
This post has been updated with more of Trump’s remarks.
The bunny costume is out of its box and the annual White House Easter Egg Roll is underway.
Since the 1870s, children have participated in the time-honored, Americana custom of pushing brightly colored, hard-boiled eggs across the White House South Lawn with wooden spoons. They’ll do so again today, celebrating a tradition that has withstood intense political polarization and global conflict — and even multiple world wars and pandemics.
The egg rolling tradition began on the US Capitol grounds. After a particularly rotten 1876 roll in which an eyewitness observed “the wanton destruction of the grass on the terraces of the park,” then-President Ulysses S. Grant signed legislation prohibiting egg rolling to protect Capitol grounds, per the National Archives.
But in 1878, a more egg-friendly President Rutherford B. Hayes allowed children to roll their eggs on the White House South Lawn.
According to the Evening Star, the children were quite pleased: “Driven out of the Capitol grounds, the children advanced on the White House grounds to-day and rolled eggs down the terraces back of the Mansion, and played among the shrubbery to their heart’s content.”
The tradition continues as a collaboration between the White House, the White House Historical Association and the National Park Service.
Former first lady Florence Harding dyed the eggs herself in 1921, The Washington Post reported at the time.
In 1927, The Post reported that Grace Coolidge, wife of then-President Calvin Coolidge, brought her pet raccoon, Rebecca, out on the grounds on a leash — to Rebecca’s annoyance.
“The crush was too much for Rebecca and she showed her displeasure plainly. But the first lady was not so easily discouraged. She carried the pet indoors and returned to the delight of the crowd,” the report said.
No word yet on which White House staffer will step into the bunny suit this year.
President Donald Trump today called Jerome Powell a “major loser” in a social media post that again pressured the Federal Reserve chair to lower interest rates.
“With Energy Costs way down, food prices (including Biden’s egg disaster!) substantially lower, and most other ‘things’ trending down, there is virtually No Inflation,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
More context: While inflation slowed sharply in March, according to data released last week, some economists cautioned that the CPI report could mark the nadir in inflation this year as Trump’s sweeping tariffs upend global order and make imports — and, likely, end-products for consumers — markedly more expensive.
Trump has repeatedly pressured Powell to lower interest rates and publicly flirted with the possibility of firing him. His advisers have warned Trump that could upend financial markets.
The president continued his pressure tactics on Monday.
Republican lawmaker defends Powell: GOP Sen. John Kennedy, who sits on the committee that oversees the Federal Reserve, praised Powell today and argued that no American president has the right to oust the head of the US central bank.
“I don’t think the president, any president, has the right to remove the Federal Reserve chairman. I think the Federal Reserve ought to be independent,” Kennedy told NBC’s “Meet the Press” in an interview that aired Sunday. “I think Jay Powell and President Trump need to sit down and once again have a hug and a cup of hot cocoa and work it out.”
CNN’s Matt Egan contributed reporting in this post. This post has been updated with comments from Sen. Kennedy.
President Donald Trump ordered flags to be flown at half-staff as a “mark of respect for the memory” of Pope Francis, who died Monday.
The order applies to “all public buildings and grounds, at all military posts and naval stations, and on all naval vessels of the Federal Government in the District of Columbia and throughout the United States and its Territories and possessions until sunset, on the day of interment,” Trump wrote in the proclamation.
He also included “United States embassies, legations, consular offices, and other facilities abroad, including all military facilities and naval vessels and stations.”
On the White House South Lawn, where the Easter Egg Roll was underway, the American flag on the top of the White House was flying at half-staff Monday morning.
Follow our coverage of the pope’s death here.
About 30,000 eggs have been boiled, dyed and transported to the White House as President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump prepare to host the annual White House Easter Egg Roll this morning.
But the American Egg Board wants Americans to know that the springtime celebration isn’t going to scramble domestic egg supply — an industry already on eggshells.
“It’s important to know that continuing the celebration of the White House Easter Egg Roll will not create additional strain on the nation’s egg supply or egg prices,” said a spokesperson for the board, which is providing the eggs for the event.
The spokesperson added, “The eggs required for our national tradition represent a very small percentage of the nearly nine million dozen eggs sold at grocers and other retailers across the country each day. Additionally, the eggs used for the White House Easter Egg Roll will be in sizes small and medium, which are not meant for the retail and grocery channels.”
This Easter comes after months of egg shortages and high prices in the US. White eggs are currently at an average price of $3.13 per dozen, according to the latest report from the US Department of Agriculture, down from a 10-year high in February of $5.90, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Even as supply is improving, it could take some time for prices to catch up. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins predicted in a March Wall Street Journal op-ed that egg prices won’t stabilize for another “three to six months.”
A defiant Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth attacked leakers and slammed the media amid news that he used a second Signal group chat to discuss classified military plans.
“Time and time again, as they peddle those lies no one eve calls them on it. This is what the media does. They take anonymous sources, disgruntled former employees and they try to slash and burn people and ruin their reputations,” Hegseth said at the White House Easter Egg Roll, joined by his children, as well as his wife, who is in one of the Signal chats.
“Not going to work with me because we’re changing the Defense Department, putting the Pentagon back in the hands of war fighters. And anonymous smears from disgruntled former employees are old news, doesn’t matter,” he said.
His former press secretary John Ullyot and other former officials have spoken out on record.
“It’s been a month of total chaos at the Pentagon. From leaks of sensitive operational plans to mass firings, the dysfunction is now a major distraction for the president — who deserves better from his senior leadership,” Ullyot said in a statement obtained by CNN Sunday.
Hegseth defended himself Monday, telling reporters, “I’m really proud of what we’re doing for the president, fighting hard across the board.”
Asked if he spoke with President Donald Trump, Hegseth indicated he had Trump’s support.
Democratic lawmakers are traveling to El Salvador today to advocate for the release of Kilmar Abrego Garcia and other detainees who were deported to the notorious Terrorism Confinement Center prison, or CECOT.
The group, which consists of Democratic Reps. Robert Garcia of California, Maxwell Frost of Florida, Yassamin Ansari of Arizona and Maxine Dexter of Oregon, plans to meet with US officials at the embassy and then engage with human rights groups while there.
“The Congressional members are in El Salvador to bring attention to President Trump’s illegal defiance of the binding and unanimous Supreme Court decision in Noem v. Abrego Garcia that demands the Administration facilitate Abrego Garcia’s return and due process in the United States,” a news release about the visit said.
Last week, Democratic Sen. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland said he met with Abrego Garcia in a push for the man’s release.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said that President Donald Trump “absolutely has confidence” in Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, after reports that he shared detailed military plans in a second Signal chat that included his wife and brother.
“I spoke to him this morning, and he stands strongly behind him,” Leavitt told reporters at the White House.
Earlier in an appearance on Fox News, Leavitt made the same point that Trump “stands strongly behind” Hegseth but argued that the Pentagon itself is working against the secretary and his efforts to change the institution in accordance with Trump’s policies.
“The President stands strongly behind Secretary Hegseth, who is doing a phenomenal job leading the Pentagon. And this is what happens when the entire Pentagon is working against you and working against the monumental change that you are trying to implement,” Leavitt said on Fox News. “Unfortunately, there have been people at the at that building who don’t like the change the Secretary is trying to bring.”
Leavitt said that no classified information was shared in Hegseth’s Signal chats, while slamming those within the Pentagon for “leaking” classified information themselves.
CNN previously reported that the information on military strikes in Yemen shared by Hegseth in the Signal chat, which included Atlantic editor Jeffrey Goldberg, were classified, according to sources. It was National Security Adviser Mike Waltz who added Goldberg to the chat, which he said was a mistake.
“These are operational plans that are highly classified in order to protect the service members,” a defense official familiar with the operation said at the time.
President Trump is commemorating the late Pope Francis, issuing a brief statement on social media following the pontiff’s death.
“Rest in Peace Pope Francis! May God Bless him and all who loved him!” Trump wrote in a brief message on Truth Social.
Trump, who met the Pope at the Vatican in 2017, is expected to appear later Monday at the annual White House Easter Egg Roll.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said there is no travel planned “at this time” for Trump to attend the funeral of Pope Francis, which could occur later this week. Still, she didn’t rule out a trip to Rome for the funeral.
Follow our coverage of the pope’s death here.
The leader of the Anti-Defamation League says the Trump administration may be overreaching in punitive actions it is taking against Harvard University, moves ostensibly made in the name of fighting antisemitism and protecting the rights of Jewish students on campus.
“We are concerned about the extent and scope of the current approach taken by the Administration to Harvard,” ADL CEO and National Director Jonathan Greenblatt wrote in an article published in the Times of Israel Friday.
“The issue of combating antisemitism on campus should be addressed on its own process and merits. Other debates on higher education may be important, but they can and should be resolved separate from fighting antisemitism on campus,” Greenblatt wrote.
Last week, the Trump administration said it was freezing more than $2.2 billion in multiyear grants to Harvard, and the Wall Street Journal reported over the weekend that another $1 billion in federal grants and contracts for health research is on the chopping block.
The Trump administration is “imposing or suggesting extremely severe penalties that don’t tie to the issue of reducing antisemitism,” Greenblatt wrote, adding, “Purely punitive gestures will not lead to long-term progress.”
In recent months, President Donald Trump has invoked an 18th century wartime authority to bypass the regular process for removing people who are in the country illegally. The act is called the Alien Enemies Act.
It’s become the center of greater public attention after a Supreme Court ruling temporarily blocked deportations under the act this weekend.
What is it? The Alien Enemies Act is designed to be invoked if the US is at war with another country or at threat of invasion. It allows the government to bypass the immigration court system, deporting people without giving them a chance to make their case to stay.
The Trump administration argues that members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua have “unlawfully infiltrated the United States and are conducting irregular warfare” in the country, therefore allowing it to deport Venezuelan migrants using the act. That case has been met with skepticism by legal experts and lawsuits by rights groups.
Legal back-and-forth: Less than two weeks ago, the Supreme Court said it would allow Trump to carry out the deportations while legal challenges unfolded.
But this week, the issue bounced right back to the high court, with immigrant rights groups seeking to block the deportation of a group of Venezuelan detainees in Texas who were not covered by any previous orders.
This time the Supreme Court temporarily blocked the deportations, with conservative Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito dissenting.
The administration swiftly responded, saying it wanted permission to pursue other legal avenues to deport certain migrants while the challenge plays out. It also asked the court to deny the rights group’s request altogether.
What comes next: The ball remains with the Supreme Court, which said it would provide more clarity before the administration can proceed.
The high court has signaled it’s likely to say more in coming days or weeks about what will happen to the migrants at the center of several fast-moving court cases over the Alien Enemies Act playing out in courtrooms in New York, Colorado and Texas.
