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President Trump has ordered Harvard Law school to pay back their $8.7 million in federal aid received from coronavirus rescue funds, according to Breitbart News.
During a White House press briefing, the commander in chief bluntly said, “Harvard’s going to pay back the money and they shouldn’t be taking it.”
Harvard received a grant from the Coronavirus Aid Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act, despite the fact that they had already received a $41 billion endowment fund, according to the Crimson.
“Harvard has committed that 100 percent of these emergency higher education funds will be used to provide direct assistance to students facing urgent financial needs due to the COVID-19 pandemic,” Jonathan Swain of the Harvard Public Affairs and Communications Department said.
However, Trump was adamant about the school paying it back.
Trump said, “They have one of the largest endowments anywhere in the country, maybe in the world, I guess.”
“And they’re going to pay back that money. They shouldn’t have taken it.”
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said, “I’m asking people to remember the intent of this money was for businesses that needed the money,” he said. “Not big public companies that have access to capital.”
Mnuchin has openly criticized big businesses for taking advantage of the program when it was meant to help small businesses.
Shake Shack announced they would return the $10 million loan they received after being criticized.
More from Breitbart:
The money was allocated to Harvard from the $12 billion in funds allotted in the CARES act as part of the Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund. (The Higher Education Relief Fund is separate from the Paycheck Protection Program, that ran out of money last week)
But Harvard’s grant prompted criticism of the bill, which was rushed forward in Congress to help support small businesses and colleges who needed the funds, simply to stay afloat.
The CARES act has also received criticism after publicly traded companies received forgivable loans from the bill that was meant to help small businesses, despite having available capital.
Chains such as Ruth’s Chris Steak House and Potbelly sandwiches have received similar loans.
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