Meet the former Democrat leading Trump’s charge against 10 universities

The head of the federal antisemitism task force that has helmed the controversial crackdown on universities in recent months says his team plans to intensify its actions in the wake of the shooting that left two Israeli Embassy staffers dead in downtown Washington.

Leo Terrell, a former Democrat and Fox News contributor-turned Department of Justice senior counsel in the civil rights division, is the little-known figure behind the Trump administration’s efforts to target 10 academic institutions across the country over claims of antisemitism.

Included in the group of 10 institutions under scrutiny is Harvard, which the Trump administration has seemingly singled out by pulling back billions of dollars in federal funding and attempting to revoke its ability to enroll foreign students.

Tapped in January by President Donald Trump to serve as senior counsel to Harmeet K. Dhillon, the assistant attorney general for civil rights in the Justice Department, Terrell has since become an outspoken voice in the administration, heading up the department’s Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism. That task force has led the charge against academic institutions that the administration claims are enabling antisemitism.

Wednesday night’s shooting has upped the stakes for Terrell, giving him what he is casting as a mandate to intensify his team’s crackdown on academic institutions.

Speaking to the Jewish News Syndicate on Thursday, Terrell said that the Trump administration will “magnify, multiply our efforts” to stop antisemitism.

“I recall the question that many people keep asking, ‘Are we too aggressive?’” Terrell said. “Here’s an example where we’re not aggressive. Two young people lost their lives and we got to make sure we do everything possible to stop the hate.”

Separately, in an interview with Israeli network N12 on Thursday, Terrell said the task force would “intensify all our activities.”

“We will chase after the campus inciters, and those that are here with a student visa — goodbye. You are here by grace, if you create a mess, crime or discrimination against Jews, you will find yourself outside. To the universities, expect more withdrawing of federal funding, or the withholding of all federal funding. All of it!” the task force chief said.

Through a Department of Justice spokesperson, Terrell declined to comment for this story.Before his job leading the charge against some of the country’s foremost academic institutions, Terrell was a Fox News contributor. That’s a role that he frequently reprises while in the administration, appearing on the network at least eight times since taking office, according to a tally from the liberal media watchdog Media Matters for America. He’s set to appear on Mark Levin’s Fox News show this Sunday.

Terrell, who had been a lifelong Democrat, made a dramatic about-face in 2020 when he announced that he planned to vote to reelect Donald Trump as president. In the nearly five years that followed, Terrell so successfully established himself as a conservative voice that Trump tapped him to serve in his current role as Dhillon’s senior counsel.

“Leo is a highly respected civil rights attorney and political analyst,” Trump said of him in January. “Leo will be a fantastic advocate for the American People, and ensure we will, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”

In addition to his regular cable TV hits, Terrell is an avid user of the social media platform X, where his posts have landed him in hot water multiple times.

Just a month after launching the task force to combat antisemitism, Terrell raised eyebrows for resharing a post by former head of the now-defunct American Identity Group, Patrick Casey, saying that “Trump has the ability to revoke someone’s Jew card” after the president called Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer “a Palestinian” and said “he’s not Jewish anymore.” The Anti-Defamation League has identified the American Identity Group as a white supremacist organization.

Terrell’s reshare drew condemnation from prominent Jewish voices, including Amy Spitalnick, the CEO of the progressive Jewish Council for Public Affairs, who bashed Terrell’s move, saying at the time: “This admin isn’t abt countering antisemitism, it’s abt exploiting it to attack democracy.”

Terrell also made waves last week after suggesting that former first lady Jill Biden should face criminal charges for “elder abuse,” saying she knew about her husband’s health challenges and chose to stay silent as he sought a second term in office.

“Elder Abuse! Criminal Charges??” Terrell wrote on X — commentary he reposted repeatedly.

Terrell’s promise this week to “intensify” his efforts comes as the Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism, under his leadership, has taken aggressive action against universities across the country on the basis of reports of antisemitism on their campuses during last year’s student protests against Israel’s war on Gaza.

In a move that sent shockwaves through the academic community, the task force last month announced it would block Harvard University from receiving $2.2 billion in federal grants and $60 million in contracts after the university refused to capitulate to a set of demands outlined by the administration.

Harvard University President Alan M. Garber at the time said that the demands, which included changes to the university’s hiring, admissions and programming processes, infringed upon the institution’s constitutional rights. The university sued the administration over the funding cuts, launching a legal battle over the unprecedented move.

Last week, the administration informed Harvard that it would cut an additional $450 million in grants from eight federal agencies as the war between the school and the administration intensifies. And the administration also sought to revoke Harvard’s ability to enroll foreign students, something a federal judge quickly blocked on Friday.

Harvard isn’t the only school facing the administration’s ire. Terrell’s task force in February announced a list of 10 institutions that it planned to investigate for allegedly allowing antisemitism on their campuses. In addition to Harvard, the universities include: Columbia; George Washington; Johns Hopkins; New York University; Northwestern; the University of California, Berkeley; the University of California, Los Angeles; the University of Minnesota; and the University of Southern California.

“The Task Force’s mandate is to bring the full force of the federal government to bear in our effort to eradicate Anti-Semitism, particularly in schools,” Terrell said when announcing the schools.

Daniella Cheslow contributed to this report.