Trump officials blame the error to trigger a confrontation with Harvard

Last Friday, Harvard University received a letter sent by email from the Trump administration which included a series of rental, admission and studies so expensive that school officials decided that they had no choice but to take the White House.

The university announced its intentions on Monday, triggering a tectonic battle between one of the most prestigious universities in the country and an American president. Then, almost immediately, came a frantic call from a Trump official.

The April 11 letter of the White House working group on anti -Semitism, said this official at Harvard, should not have been sent and was “unauthorized,” said two people familiar with the case.

The letter was sent by the interim general councilor of the Ministry of Health and Social Services, Sean Keveney, according to three other people, who were informed. Mr. Keveney is a member of the working group on anti -Semitism.

We do not know what prompted the letter to be sent last Friday. Its content was authentic, said the three people, but there were different accounts within the administration of how it had been poorly managed. Some people in the White House thought that she had been sent prematurely, according to the three people, who asked for anonymity because they were not allowed to speak publicly about internal discussions. Other members of the administration thought it was supposed to be broadcast among the members of the working group rather than sent to Harvard.

But his timing was consecutive. The letter arrived when Harvard officials thought they could always avoid confrontation with President Trump. During the previous two weeks, Harvard and the working group had engaged in a dialogue. But requests from the letter were so extreme that Harvard concluded that an agreement would ultimately be impossible.