Harvard constitutional law professor emeritus Laurence Tribe delivered a damning assessment of Donald Trump’s recent attacks on his university, likening the president’s actions to those of a historical, brutal monarch.
In an interview with CNN’s Kate Bolduan, Tribe was asked how far he believes the Trump administration has gone “beyond the bounds of the law” with his bids to ban international students from the university, freeze its grants and redirect its federal funds.
“I compare it to King Henry VIII, King Edward II,” Tribe said. “Not even King George III, who was the proximate guy against whom we fought a war of revolution, not even he had this kind of power, because he needed Parliament. This president thinks he doesn’t even need Congress.”
Tribe reminded viewers that it’s “Congress that has the power of the purse” and that Trump “can’t just move billions of bucks from one place to another all by himself.”
He also warned of the wider fallout of Trump’s targeting of Harvard.
“He’s hurting the country,” Tribe said. “It’s not Harvard’s interest in these wonderful foreign students that’s all at stake. They come here; they meet others; they discover things. Some of them end up winning Nobel prizes. They are performing a great public service. It’s a private university but it’s providing a public education.”
