Trump Organization axes prominent attorney for representing Harvard

Source: USA Today

April 24, 2025, 12:11 p.m. ET


WASHINGTON ― President Donald Trump's company, the Trump Organization, has parted ways with a prominent conservative attorney who is also representing Harvard University in the school's legal clash with the Trump administration.

Trump's son Eric Trump, who leads the Trump organization alongside Donald Trump Jr., confirmed the dismissal of William Burck as an outside legal adviser after Trump launched a blistering attack on Harvard in an April 24 post on Truth Social that called for his sons to "get rid of him ASAP!" "I view it as conflict and I will be moving in a different direction," Eric Trump said in a statement to USA TODAY.

The move comes after Harvard this week sued the Trump administration, accusing it of unlawfully threatening the school's academic independence and research. The White House said it was freezing $2.2 billion in funding to Harvard after the prestigious Ivy League school rejected demands to ban face masks and eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion programs. Trump, in his social media post, referred to Harvard as "an Anti-Semitic, Far Left Institution."

"Harvard is a threat to Democracy," he added, "with a lawyer, who represents me, who should therefore be forced to resign, immediately, or be fired. He’s not that good, anyway, and I hope that my very big and beautiful company, now run by my sons, gets rid of him ASAP!" Burck, a managing partner at Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan who was hired by the Trump Organization as a legal adviser in January, did not respond to a message seeking comment.

Read more: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2025/04/24/trump-organization-attorney-representing-harvard-william-burck/83248242007/