CNN senior justice correspondent Evan Perez did his best Daniel Dale impression on Thursday’s episode of The Situation Room, where he attempted to fact-check President Trump’s assessment of Harvard, in his words, as a “cesspool of leftist thinking,” as false because conservatives, such as Ted Cruz, have attended the school.
The context for Perez’s failed foray into fact-checking came as Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem upped the stakes in the battle between Harvard and the administration as he told co-host Wolf Blitzer, “This is an escalating series of threats from the Trump administration against the university, Wolf. And the latest one is from the Homeland Security Department, which is telling Harvard that they may lose their ability to host foreign students.”
After reading from a letter Noem sent to Harvard, Perez rolled on, “Now, this is all over their demands for Harvard to turn over disciplinary records of students, visa holders, who may have been participating in some of these protests over the last year over the Gaza War, Wolf. And obviously, the IRS is also now looking at revoking the tax exemption of Harvard University. That would be a huge hit for the university. The university has so far refused to comply with Trump’s demands.”
While concerns about anti-Semitism on campuses throughout the country are the reason for these battles, Perez insisted there is more to it than that, “Now, what they’re asking for, Wolf, is for Harvard not only to comply with what they say are anti-Semitic, control of anti-Semitic issues on campus, but they want bigger changes. They want to oversee hiring and admissions standards. They want to make sure that conservative views are being represented on campus.”
Part of the hiring concerns also stem from former university president Claudine Gay’s plagiarism scandal, but Perez didn’t mention that. Instead, he felt the need to declare, “Now, one of the things that I think is lost upon this is that there’s plenty of conservatives that have come from Harvard: Tom Cotton, Neil Gorsuch, Ted Cruz, you know, over the years, Harvard has produced a lot of conservatives. So, the idea that Harvard is some cesspool of leftist thinking, I think is not quite what the, you know, certainly what the president believes is not quite what we know is true.”
Blitzer was awed by the argument, “Excellent point. Thank you very much, Evan, for that.”
It was not excellent. According to a survey, over 76 percent of Harvard faculty identify as “liberal” or “very liberal.” By contrast, just under three percent identify as “conservative” or “very conservative.”
So, yes, the number of conservatives on staff exceeds zero, but that is a woeful standard. More importantly, in the departments that are most responsible for the spread of anti-Semitism, even most liberals would be shocked to see what gets pushed under the guise of education.
Of course, Cotton, Gorsuch, and Cruz were students, not faculty, and only 13 percent of the Harvard class of 2024 reported being conservative compared to 59 percent who self-identified as progressive. Finally, nobody at CNN would ever suggest that Fox News is a neutral outlet because they employ Jessica Tarlov, but double standards for fact-checks are an industry standard.
Here is a transcript for the April 17 show:
CNN The Situation Room
4/17/2025
11:05 AM ET
EVAN PEREZ: This is an escalating series of threats from the Trump administration against the university, Wolf. And the latest one is from the Homeland Security Department, which is telling Harvard that they may lose their ability to host foreign students.
This is obviously a big source of funding and money for universities. Foreign students bring in a lot of money to these universities. I’ll read you just a part of what Kristi Noem wrote to Harvard, saying “It is a privilege to have foreign students at—attend Harvard university, not a guarantee. Your continued work with this student and exchange visitor program certification is contingent upon meeting these requirements of the Homeland Security Department. Failure to comply with the student records request will be treated as a voluntary withdrawal. The withdrawal will not be subject to appeal.”
Now, this is all over their demands for Harvard to turn over disciplinary records of students, visa holders, who may have been participating in some of these protests over the last year over the Gaza War, Wolf. And obviously, the IRS is also now looking at revoking the tax exemption of Harvard University. That would be a huge hit for the university. The university has so far refused to comply with Trump’s demands.
Now, what they’re asking for, Wolf, is for Harvard not only to comply with what they say are anti-Semitic, control of anti-Semitic issues on campus, but they want bigger changes. They want to oversee hiring and admissions standards. They want to make sure that conservative views are being represented on campus.
Now, one of the things that I think is lost upon this is that there’s plenty of conservatives that have come from Harvard: Tom Cotton, Neil Gorsuch, Ted Cruz, you know, over the years, Harvard has produced a lot of conservatives. So, the idea that Harvard is some cesspool of leftist thinking, I think is not quite what the, you know, certainly what the president believes is not quite what we know is true.
WOLF BLITZER: Excellent point. Thank you very much, Evan, for that.
