Top universities face hiring freezes as federal research funding at risk
Princeton University and the University of California system have announced hiring freezes due to potential cuts in federal research funding, joining other top institutions like Harvard and Duke.
Scripps News
WASHINGTON ― President Donald Trump’s company, the Trump Organization, has parted ways with a prominent conservative attorney who is also representing Harvard University in the school’s legal clash with the Trump administration.
Trump’s son Eric Trump, who leads the Trump organization alongside Donald Trump Jr., confirmed the dismissal of William Burck as an outside legal adviser after Trump launched a blistering attack on Harvard in an April 24 post on Truth Social that called for his sons to “get rid of him ASAP!”
“I view it as conflict and I will be moving in a different direction,” Eric Trump said in a statement to USA TODAY.
The move comes after Harvard this week sued the Trump administration, accusing it of unlawfully threatening the school’s academic independence and research. The White House said it was freezing $2.2 billion in funding to Harvard after the prestigious Ivy League school rejected demands to ban face masks and eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion programs.
Trump, in his social media post, referred to Harvard as “an Anti-Semitic, Far Left Institution.”
“Harvard is a threat to Democracy,” he added, “with a lawyer, who represents me, who should therefore be forced to resign, immediately, or be fired. He’s not that good, anyway, and I hope that my very big and beautiful company, now run by my sons, gets rid of him ASAP!”
Burck, a managing partner at Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan who was hired by the Trump Organization as a legal adviser in January, did not respond to a message seeking comment.
Harvard, in building its defense team to fight the Trump administration, turned to a pair of attorneys with strong bona fides in Republican circles. One is Robert Hur, the former Trump-appointed U.S. attorney for the District of Maryland who more recently served as special counsel in the investigation into former President Joe Biden’s possession of classified documents.
The other is Burck, a former special counsel and deputy counsel to President George W. Bush who has represented numerous Republicans over the years, including former top Trump strategist Steve Bannon and Trump associates during Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. Burck also represented New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft during the businessman’s high-profile solicitation of prostitution case in 2019.
The Trump Organization consists of hundreds of companies that are owned by Trump, including his golf and resort business. After entering the White House in 2017, Trump handed the control of the company to his adult sons, Eric and Don Jr., but still retained control of the business in a break from precedent when it comes to the commercial interests of a president.
The Trump Organization was on track to generate about $600 million in revenue in 2024, according to an estimate from Reuters.
Contributing: Reuters. Reach Joey Garrison on X @joeygarrison.