A spokesperson for First Lady Melania Trump has officially debunked a swirling online rumor that President Trump’s crackdown on Harvard University was motivated by the school allegedly rejecting their son, Barron. In a statement to the Palm Beach Post, spokesperson Nicholas Clemens said flatly, “Barron did not apply to Harvard, and any assertion that he, or that anyone on his behalf, applied is completely false.”

The rumor had been gaining traction online amid President Trump’s intensifying effort to strip Harvard of its massive federal funding. Critics tried to connect the administration’s actions with supposed personal grievances, but the First Lady’s office made it clear—there’s no truth to the claim.

What’s actually happening is far more significant than a college admissions dispute. Trump and his team have launched a full-scale federal offensive against Harvard, citing national security concerns, antisemitic campus environments, and what the Department of Homeland Security has called noncompliance with repeated requests for information about foreign students.

Harvard has already sued to prevent the loss of more than $3 billion in federal grant funding that’s been frozen by the Trump administration. Meanwhile, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced that Harvard would lose its ability to enroll international students under the federal Student and Exchange Visitor Program due to what she called “hostile” campus conditions and refusal to comply with immigration inquiries.

In response, a federal judge temporarily blocked the government from revoking that status, setting up a legal showdown with billions at stake. Trump’s DOJ argues that the university’s policies and protests—some of which have openly supported Hamas—create an unsafe and unaccountable environment for both students and national security interests.

President Trump has continued hammering Harvard on Truth Social, calling the institution “very antisemitic” and floating the idea of reallocating its taxpayer funding to trade schools “all across our land.” He doubled down this week, writing, “We are still waiting for the Foreign Student Lists from Harvard so that we can determine, after a ridiculous expenditure of BILLIONS OF DOLLARS, how many radicalized lunatics, troublemakers all, should not be let back into our Country.”

As Harvard’s legal and PR battles escalate, the administration is showing no signs of backing down. Trump’s push to end what he sees as elite academic protectionism and foreign influence in America’s universities continues to resonate with voters—especially working-class families who see Ivy League institutions as politically extreme and out of touch.

Despite left-wing speculation, this fight isn’t about Barron—it’s about draining a different kind of swamp. With the First Lady’s office closing the book on the conspiracy theory, the real issue now turns to whether Trump’s bold moves will reshape federal education funding and accountability for good.