Michael Schmidt

3 weeks ago | bostonglobe.com | Michael Schmidt |Michael Bender

The Justice Department quietly approached Harvard University last month with startling claims, even by the extraordinary standards of the Trump administration’s monthslong assault on the elite college. The department signaled that it was reviewing claims of discrimination against white men at The Harvard Law Review, and accused the renowned publication of destroying evidence in an open investigation. The administration demanded that Harvard “cease and desist” from interfering.

1 month ago | bostonglobe.com | Michael Bender |Michael Schmidt

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration is investigating whether Harvard University’s admissions policies comply with a Supreme Court ruling that ended affirmative action, opening a new front in its widening effort to bring the institution to heel. In a letter Monday, the Justice Department notified Harvard about an investigation into whether its admissions process had been used to defraud the government.

1 month ago | bostonglobe.com | Michael Schmidt |Alan Feuer |Zolan Kanno-Youngs |Maggie Haberman |Maria Abi-Habib

The Trump administration recently sent a diplomatic note to officials in El Salvador to inquire about releasing a Salvadoran immigrant whom government officials have been ordered by the Supreme Court to help free, according to three people with knowledge of the matter. But the authoritarian government of Nayib Bukele, the leader of El Salvador, said no, two of the people said.