(JTA) — The Trump administration’s investigations into antisemitism at three elite universities were driven by premeditated political goals and violated federal law, according to an account by a former Justice Department attorney.
The testimony of the whistleblower, Haley Van Erem, is now being used as evidence in an investigation, led by Jewish U.S. Rep. Jamie Raskin, into what the Democrat from Maryland said was the federal government’s “fake” and “pre-baked frame-up” handling of campus antisemitism cases.
Van Erem, a former civil rights attorney, alleged in a disclosure provided to Congress Monday that in high-profile antisemitism investigations at Harvard, Brown and Columbia, the “outcomes of the investigations were predetermined, without regard to the evidence.”
The Trump administration had investigated all three Ivy League schools for alleged Title VI civil rights violations, ultimately striking deals with two of them to drop the charges. The disclosure concerns investigations conducted as part of the Trump administration’s Task Force to Combat Antisemitism, led by Justice Department official Leo Terrell.
Van Erem left the Justice Department in May 2025 because she was “unwilling to be made vulnerable to further participation in politically motivated investigations unsupported by facts and contrary to law,” according to the complaint.
When reached for comment about the disclosure by the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, a DOJ spokesperson said, “While at the DOJ, Ms. Haley...
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