First Lady Melania Trump’s spokesperson has firmly denied a viral conspiracy theory suggesting that President Donald Trump’s aggressive stance against Harvard University stems from the school’s alleged rejection of their son Barron Trump’s college application.
Nicholas Clemens, a spokesperson for the first lady, told Fox News on May 27, 2025, that “Barron did not apply to Harvard, and any assertion that he, or that anyone on his behalf, applied is completely false.” The statement came in response to widespread online speculation linking the Trump administration’s targeting of Harvard to personal motivations involving the first family’s 19-year-old son.
The conspiracy theory gained traction as the Trump administration escalated its confrontation with the prestigious Ivy League institution. Social media users theorized that the president’s harsh actions against Harvard were motivated by revenge after Barron was supposedly rejected during his college admissions process. However, the first lady’s office moved quickly to dispel these rumors.
Barron Trump currently attends New York University, where he just completed his freshman year. During a 2024 rally in Florida, President Trump had indicated that his youngest son got into every college he wanted to and made his own choice about where to attend. The president also previously praised Barron’s computer skills and described his unbelievable aptitude in technology.
The rumors emerged amid the Trump administration’s comprehensive effort to cut all federal funding to Harvard University. The administration is asking all federal agencies to find ways to terminate all federal contracts with the institution, representing a significant escalation in their ongoing standoff over foreign students’ records at the school.
Harvard has already filed a lawsuit in federal court seeking the restoration of approximately $3.2 billion in federal grant funding that the administration has frozen since last month. The remaining federal funds targeted for cuts add up to an additional $100 million, according to reports. The most recent letter delivered to Harvard officials on Thursday, May 22, instructs the institution to respond to the contract cancellations by June 6.
On Thursday, Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem notified Harvard’s administration that the university would no longer be permitted to enroll international students. Secretary Noem pointed to the university’s failure to respond to multiple Department of Homeland Security requests for critical information, its role in fostering a campus climate that endangers Jewish students, its support for pro-Hamas views, and its use of discriminatory diversity, equity, and inclusion practices.
On Friday, May 23, Judge Allison Burroughs, who was appointed by President Barack Obama, issued a temporary restraining order in favor of Harvard. This decision blocked the federal government from rescinding the university’s certification in the Student and Exchange Visitor Program, which enables Harvard to welcome international students holding F-1 or J-1 visas to study in the United States.
President Trump has been vocal about his frustrations with Harvard on his Truth Social platform. In a post on Monday, he accused Harvard of being very antisemitic and suggested considering giving the school’s federal funding to trade schools all across the land. He described this potential reallocation as a great investment for the USA that would be badly needed.
The president expressed additional frustration about Harvard’s cooperation with information requests. He indicated that the administration was still waiting for Foreign Student Lists from Harvard to determine how many individuals should not be allowed back into the country after what he described as a ridiculous expenditure of billions of dollars. Trump characterized Harvard as being very slow in presenting these documents, suggesting there was probably good reason for the delay.
The conflict between the Trump administration and Harvard represents part of the broader demands issued to higher education institutions in April. These demands targeted Diversity, Equity and Inclusion initiatives, the admission of international students, and other campus policies. Although Harvard has taken legal action against the administration, another Ivy League school, Columbia University, complied with the administration’s demands in March, agreeing to new government oversight of its Middle East studies program.
The Trump administration asserts that these demands to higher education institutions are aimed at curbing anti-semitism and discrimination against female athletes. Critics of these policies argue that they disproportionately target Palestinian supporters and transgender athletes.
The controversy has also affected research activities at Harvard. In April, a researcher at Harvard indicated that their research monkeys were at risk of being euthanized amid the slashed federal funding. The National Institutes of Health issued a stop-work order to researchers that month, with one scientist describing the heavy responsibility of working with the animals and the difficulty of being asked to terminate them halfway through studies.
Despite the ongoing federal investigation and funding disputes, Melania Trump’s spokesperson emphasized that the conspiracy theories linking these actions to Barron’s college admissions were entirely unfounded. The clarification appears aimed at protecting the first son from becoming a target of political speculation while the administration continues its policy-driven confrontation with one of America’s most prominent universities.
