Ranking Member Raskin Demands Answers Following DOJ Whistleblower Reports that Trump Officials Abused Title VI Investigations to Attack Universities, Using Antisemitic Discrimination as a Pretext and a “Ruse”

Whistleblowers Allege Trump Officials Advanced Bogus Civil Rights Investigations with “Predetermined” Outcomes to Coerce Schools into Settlements and Justify Cancellation of Federal Funds, Despite Finding No Evidence of Violations

 Washington, D.C. (August 18, 2026)—Today, Rep. Jamie Raskin, Ranking Member of the House Judiciary Committee, launched an investigation into explosive whistleblower allegations that Trump Administration political appointees grossly manipulated federal antisemitism investigations to target certain American universities, punish protected speech and force schools into settlements despite government investigators’ finding insufficient evidence to establish any Title VI violations.

The investigation follows a protected disclosure received by the Committee from a veteran Department of Justice (DOJ) attorney and several other federal employees assigned to the Trump Administration’s Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism, which includes representatives from DOJ, Department of Education, and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The whistleblowers describe political appointees overruling career investigators, pursuing investigations with “predetermined” outcomes and findings unsupported by the evidence, targeting professors based on religion and ethnicity without allegations of wrongdoing, and threatening to withhold hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funding to pressure universities into politically driven settlements.

“From the start of the Trump Administration’s ferocious attack on universities, it has been apparent that its investigations have been structured deliberately to harass and intimidate rather than protect anyone from discrimination. These credible new disclosures, although limited to the experience of several professionals involved, allows the world to look under the hood and see just how far the Trump Administration strayed from any notion of professional responsibility, public ethics, or legal candor in its attacks on perceived political enemies in academia,” wrote Ranking Member Raskin.

The whistleblowers provided detailed allegations concerning investigations of Brown, Columbia and Harvard Universities:

• The Trump Administration cut off funds to Brown and forced the university to settle despite investigating attorneys informing officials there was no Title VI violation. According to investigators, DOJ cut funding from Brown due to antisemitism “violations” before any investigation could begin in earnest, let alone be completed. Even when the investigation was completed, investigators found there was no civil rights violation. Brown had quickly and forcefully addressed any reports of antisemitism on campus, and “one Jewish witness even stated that the campus was a great place to be Jewish.” A Trump official further admitted that there was “not a Title VI violation” at Brown but that “there’s no way we’re going to get a letter of no violation cleared,” indicating that the government was merely using antisemitism as a pretext to claw back funds and punish universities deemed politically incorrect by the Administration.
   
• Trump officials disregarded significant factual and constitutional concerns raised by DOJ investigators. At Columbia, investigators identified false statements and protected First Amendment activity improperly cited as evidence of Title VI violations. At Harvard, an attorney warned that proposed settlement demands were unrelated to remedying antisemitism and likely violated the First Amendment.
   
• Trump officials acted in bad faith, drafting a settlement agreement for the first school to capitulate to its coercive demands. Investigators were informed by Trump Administration officials about an initial plan for Harvard to be made the first example of its campaign to subdue academic institutions, but when negotiations broke down, Trump officials opted to instead try to make Columbia the example. These statements indicated that the goal of these investigations was not to protect students by investigating antisemitic discrimination or uncover Title VI violations, but to punish schools disfavored by the Administration and secure their preemptive and costly compliance with the Trump Administration’s coercive demands.
   
• Trump officials targeted Muslim professors without evidence of wrongdoing.Investigators were instructed to interview Middle East Studies professors, particularly Muslim faculty. At Brown, one Muslim professor was singled out despite no allegation of antisemitic conduct, with an official explaining that the interview was not to “get information,” but to see “what he will say.”
   

The disclosure further alleges that senior officials intended to use federal funding as leverage against universities regardless of investigative findings. HHS Acting General Counsel Sean Keveney sought to force schools to “disgorge money received by HHS,” while HHS official Daniel Shieh stated that “the goal is compliance, but pulling money is the tool.”

Ranking Member Raskin is seeking to determine the extent of misconduct of other DOJ officials, including Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon, noting:

“The full extent of your misconduct remains unclear. At the very least, you have shown gross negligence in supervising the activities of your office. It is also a distinct possibility that you deliberately orchestrated a scheme to attack universities, their faculties, and their administrators for political purposes while defrauding the American people and the courts.” 

Ranking Member Raskin is demanding that Assistant Attorney General Dhillon appear before the Judiciary Committee for a transcribed interview and provide records concerning the Administration’s investigations and settlements involving Harvard, Brown, Cornell and Columbia Universities. The Committee is also seeking communications involving senior officials overseeing the investigations; records concerning efforts to single out Muslim professors; and communications with the White House and other agencies concerning the cancellation of university grants, contracts and federal funding.
 

Click here to read the letter.