WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump threatened Harvard University’s tax-exempt status Tuesday after the school rebuffed his administration’s demands for a series of policy changes, a dramatic escalation in the feud between the president and the nation’s richest and oldest university.

The threat came a day after the Trump administration halted more than $2 billion in federal funding for Harvard because the university rejected changes to its hiring and admissions practices and curriculum. Trump decided to ratchet up his pressure campaign after watching news coverage of Harvard’s resistance Monday night, according to a person with knowledge of the president’s deliberations, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

“Perhaps Harvard should lose its Tax Exempt Status and be Taxed as a Political Entity if it keeps pushing political, ideological, and terrorist inspired/supporting ‘Sickness?’” Trump posted on Truth Social on Tuesday morning. “Remember, Tax Exempt Status is totally contingent on acting in the PUBLIC INTEREST!”

— The Associated Press