Melania Trump issued a rare public statement defending her son Barron after he got caught in the crossfire of her husband's war on Harvard.
A spokesperson for Melania confirmed that Barron, 18, never applied to Harvard after leftist trolls started claiming President Trump is only targeting the nation's oldest and richest university because his son didn't get in.
"Barron did not apply to Harvard, and any assertion that he, or that anyone on his behalf, applied is completely false," spokesperson Nicholas Clemens told Fox News Digital.
The claim that Barron was rejected by Harvard began to spread in liberal spaces on social media last weekend after Trump blocked the university from enrolling international students - who comprise about a quarter of the student body.
A federal judge appointed by President Obama promptly froze Trump's move, which had thrown foreign students into turmoil just before graduation.
Trump has also targeted Harvard's federal funding, threatening to strip away billions of dollars in grants and contracts, while suggesting he may transfer money from Harvard to the nation's trade schools.
In his latest comments on the controversy Wednesday, Trump said Harvard is being stubborn.
"But Harvard wants to fight. They want to show how smart they are, and they're getting their a-- kicked," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.
"All they're doing is getting in deeper and deeper and deeper," Trump said. "They've got to behave themselves."
Trump has plainly stated his reasons for the crackdown on Harvard, citing its response to campus anti-Semitism and its use of anti-white Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) policies in admissions.
In short, Trump's policy on Harvard has to do with real issues of public concern and not, as some baselessly suggest, some frivolous personal vendetta.
Trump's son, Barron, just finished his freshman year at New York University's Stern School of Business. Barron's father and two of his siblings attended the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School, a path the family also considered for Barron.
"We liked NYU. I've known NYU for a long time, but it's one of the highest rated," President Trump told the Daily Mail last year. "I went to Wharton, and that was certainly one that we were considering."
Melania Trump is known to be very close to her only child, and she has long endeavored to shelter him from the political fray.
In her self-titled memoir released last year, she responded to the rumors that her son has autism, which were propagated by Rosie O'Donnell, saying the gossip left "irreparable damage."
"Barron’s experience of being bullied both online and in real life following the incident is a clear indication of the irreparable damage caused," she wrote.
"It felt like my heart was breaking into pieces," she wrote.
