Harvard University on Saturday challenged anonymous Donald Trump administration officials who said a mistake had sparked the escalating confrontation between the president and one of the country’s most prestigious colleges.

On Friday, The New York Times reported that two Trump administration sources said an April 11 letter signed by three federal officials to Harvard president Alan Garber was “unauthorized” and should not have been sent.

The letter demanded the Massachusetts university come under government oversight and make changes related to student and faculty conduct, admissions, alleged antisemitism on campus and diversity, equity and inclusion programs.

Harvard on Saturday pushed back on the assertion that the letter was sent in error, pointing out that the Trump administration had “doubled down” on its threats.

After Harvard refused to comply with the letter’s demands, the Trump administration froze $2.2 billion in federal funding to the university and threatened to revoke its tax-exempt status.

“It remains unclear to us exactly what, among the government’s recent words and deeds, were mistakes or what the government actually meant to do and say,” the university said Saturday in a statement to The Washington Post. “But even if the letter was a mistake, the actions the government took this week have real-life consequences on students, patients, employees, and the standing of American higher education in the world.”

The White House did not respond to requests for comment, but a senior official there told the Times that the administration stood by the letter.

White House senior policy strategist May Mailman said the turmoil over Harvard publicly rejecting the administration’s demands was overblown, and she faulted university leaders for not continuing discussions they had been having for weeks with the White House’s antisemitism task force.

“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,” Mailman said. “Instead, Harvard went on a victimhood campaign.”

On Saturday, Harvard said the Trump administration’s behavior in the week since it sent the letter is more evidence of its intent.

“Even assuming the administration now wishes to take back its litany of breathtakingly intrusive demands,” the university said in its statement, “it appears to have doubled down on those demands through its deeds in recent days.

“Actions speak louder than words.”

Jacob Bogage, Jeff Stein, Ben Brasch and Danielle Douglas-Gabriel contributed to this report.