By CHRISSIE THOMPSON and COLLIN BINKLEY, Associated Press Education Writers

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge has temporarily blocked a proclamation by President Donald Trump that banned foreign students from entering the U.S. to attend Harvard University.

Trump’s proclamation was the latest attempt by his Republican administration to prevent the nation’s oldest and wealthiest college from enrolling a quarter of its students, who account for much of its research and scholarship.

Harvard filed a legal challenge on Thursday, asking for a judge to block Trump’s order and calling it illegal retaliation for Harvard’s rejection of White House demands. Harvard said the president was attempting an end-run around a previous court order.

A few hours later, U.S. District Judge Allison Burroughs in Boston issued a temporary restraining order against Trump’s proclamation. Harvard, she said, had demonstrated it would sustain “immediate and irreparable injury” before she would have an opportunity to hear from the parties in the lawsuit.

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Burroughs also extended the temporary hold she placed on the administration’s previous attempt to end Harvard’s enrollment of international students. Last month, the Department of Homeland Security revoked Harvard’s certification to host foreign students and issue paperwork to them for their visas, only to have Burroughs block the action temporarily. Trump’s order this week invoked a different legal authority.

If Trump’s measure were to survive this court challenge, it would block thousands of students who are scheduled to go to Harvard’s campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts, for the summer and fall terms.

“Harvard’s more than 7,000 F-1 and J-1 visa holders — and their dependents — have become pawns in the government’s escalating campaign of retaliation,” Harvard wrote Thursday in a court filing.

While the court case proceeds, Harvard is making contingency plans so students and visiting scholars can continue their work at the university, President Alan Garber said in a message to the campus and alumni.

“Each of us is part of a truly global university community,” Garber said Thursday. “We know that the benefits of bringing talented people together from around the world are unique and irreplaceable.”

Harvard has attracted a growing number of the brightest minds from around the world, with international enrollment growing from 11% of the student body three decades ago to 26% today.

As those students wait to find out if they’ll be able to attend the university, some are pursuing other options.

Rising international enrollment has made Harvard and other elite colleges uniquely vulnerable to Trump’s crackdown on foreign students. Republicans have been seeking to force overhauls of the nation’s top colleges, which they see as hotbeds of “woke” and antisemitic viewpoints.

Garber says the university has made changes to combat antisemitism. But Harvard, he said, will not stray from its “core, legally-protected principles,” even after receiving federal ultimatums.

Trump’s administration has also taken steps to withhold federal funding from Harvard and other elite colleges that have rejected White House demands related to campus protests, admissions, hiring and more. Harvard’s $53 billion endowment allows it to weather the loss of funding for a time, although Garber has warned of “difficult decisions and sacrifices” to come.

But cutting off students and visiting scholars could hamstring the university’s research and global standing.

The Associated Press’ education coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

By LEAH WILLINGHAM, Associated Press

BOSTON (AP) — Democratic state attorneys general on Friday will seek to block President Donald Trump’s proposal for a sweeping overhaul of U.S. elections in a case that tests a constitutional bedrock — the separation of powers.

The top law enforcement officials from 19 states filed a federal lawsuit after the Republican president signed the executive order in March, arguing that its provisions would step on states’ power to set their own election rules and that the executive branch had no such authority.

In a filing supporting that argument, a bipartisan group of former secretaries of state said Trump’s directive would upend the system established by the Constitution’s Elections Clause, which gives states and Congress control over how elections are run. They said the order seeks to “unilaterally coronate the President as the country’s chief election policymaker and administrator.”

If the court does not halt the order, they argued, “the snowball of executive overreach will grow swiftly and exponentially.”

Trump’s election directive was part of a flurry of executive orders he has issued in the opening months of his second term, many of which have drawn swift legal challenges. It follows years of him falsely claiming that his loss to Democrat Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election was due to widespread fraud and an election year in which he and other Republicans promoted the notion that large numbers of noncitizens threatened the integrity of U.S. elections. In fact, voting by noncitizens is rare and, when caught, can lead to felony charges and deportation.

President Donald Trump attends a meeting with the Fraternal Order of Police in the State Dinning Room of the White House, Thursday, June 5, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Trump’s executive order would require voters to show proof of U.S. citizenship when registering to vote in federal elections, prohibit mail or absentee ballots from being counted if they are received after Election Day, set new rules for voting equipment and prohibit non-U.S. citizens from being able to donate in certain elections. It also would condition federal election grant funding on states adhering to the strict ballot deadline.

The hearing Friday in U.S. District Court in Boston comes in one of three lawsuits filed against the executive order. One is from Oregon and Washington, where elections are conducted almost entirely by mail and ballots received after Election Day are counted as long as they are postmarked by then.

The provision that would create a proof-of-citizenship requirement for federal elections already has been halted in a lawsuit filed by voting and civil rights groups and national Democratic organizations.

In that case, filed in federal court in the District of Columbia, the judge said the president’s attempt to use a federal agency to enact a proof-of-citizenship requirement for voting usurped the power of states and Congress, which at the time was considering legislation that would do just that. That bill, called the SAVE Act, passed the U.S. House but faces an uncertain future in the Senate.

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Trump’s executive order said its intent was to ensure “free, fair and honest elections unmarred by fraud, errors, or suspicion.” The Justice Department, in arguing against the motion by the attorneys general for a preliminary injunction, said the president is within his rights to direct agencies to carry out federal voting laws.

The order tasks the U.S. Election Assistance Commission with updating the federal voter registration form to require people to submit documentation proving they are U.S. citizens. Similar provisions enacted previously in a handful of states have raised concerns about disenfranchising otherwise eligible voters who can’t readily access those documents. That includes married women, who would need both a birth certificate and a marriage license if they had changed their last name.

A state proof-of-citizenship law enacted in Kansas more than a decade ago blocked the registrations of 31,000 people later found to be eligible to vote.

The two sides will argue over whether the president has the authority to direct the election commission, which was created by Congress as an independent agency after the Florida ballot debacle during the 2000 presidential election.

In its filing, the Justice Department said Trump’s executive order falls within his authority to direct officials “to carry out their statutory duties,” adding that “the only potential voters it disenfranchises are noncitizens who are ineligible to vote anyway.”

By CHRIS MEGERIAN, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Maybe it was always going to end this way, with two billionaires angrily posting about each other on social media, fingers flying across pocket-sized screens as their incandescent feud burned hotter by the minute.

But even if the finale was predictable, that didn’t make it any less shocking. After long months when Donald Trump and Elon Musk appeared united in their chaotic mission to remake Washington, their relationship imploded this week like a star going supernova.

FILE – Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, left, and Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump attend a campaign event at the Butler Farm Show, Oct. 5, 2024, in Butler, Pa. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)

It began with Musk complaining about the centerpiece of Trump’s legislative agenda, which the president at first took in stride. Eventually Trump let slip that he was disappointed in his former adviser, prompting Musk to unleash a flood of insults and taunts.

He accused Trump of betraying promises to cut federal spending, shared a suggestion that the president should be impeached and claimed without evidence that the government was concealing information about his association with infamous pedophile Jeffrey Epstein. Perhaps most viciously, Musk insisted that Trump wouldn’t have won last year’s election without his help.

Trump, not one to slouch from a fight, could hold back no longer. He posted that Musk had been “wearing thin,” that he had “asked him to leave” his administration, that the tech titan had “gone CRAZY.”

Maybe, Trump threatened, he should save taxpayer money by canceling government contracts and subsidies for Musk’s companies.

Bad blood with high stakes

On and on it went, as liberals savored the spectacle of their most despised political opponents clawing at each other’s digital throats and conservatives reeled at the prospect of having to pick sides. Laura Loomer, a right-wing provocateur and conspiracy theorist, saw an opportunity to position herself as the voice of reason.

“This fight should be taken offline,” she said — on social media, of course.

The question now is whether Trump and Musk find some way to step back from a battle that is tearing apart one of the most consequential relationships in modern American politics. If they don’t, there’s little telling how far the fallout could spread from a collision between the world’s most powerful man and its wealthiest.

At stake are the future of Musk’s companies, including electric automaker Tesla and rocket manufacturer SpaceX; government programs that rely on the billionaire entrepreneur’s technology; legislation for advancing tax cuts and Trump’s other priorities in Congress; Republican chances in next year’s midterm elections; and an entire political ecosystem that has orbited around Trump and Musk’s deteriorating partnership.

“It’s like India and Pakistan,” said Republican Rep. Ryan Zinke of Montana, referring to two nuclear-armed nations that recently skirmished along their border. “It just escalates and neither one of them seem to back down and understand the strength of each other.”

Opposites attracted (for a time)

Trump and Musk were always an odd pairing, with contrasting world views and deep generational and stylistic differences.

Trump, 78, comes from old-school New York real estate and never appears in public without a suit and tie unless he’s on the golf course. Before running for president, he became a household name as a reality television star.

President Donald Trump speaks during a news conference with Elon Musk in the Oval Office of the White House, Friday, May 30, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Musk, 53, is an immigrant from South Africa who struck it rich in Silicon Valley. In addition to running Tesla and SpaceX, Musk owns the social media company X. He’s fashioned himself as a black-clad internet edgelord, and his wealth vastly outstrips Trump’s.

But Trump and Musk are kindred spirits in other ways. They’re experts at generating attention who enjoy stirring the pot by riling up their opponents. Each has sought more power to accomplish existential quests. Trump assails the federal “deep state” that resisted him during his first term, while Musk warns about the country going bankrupt from excessive spending and promotes an interplanetary future powered by his rocket technology.

Musk endorsed Trump after the Republican candidate was nearly assassinated in Butler, Pennsylvania, and he began spending millions to support him. His social media megaphone was a powerful addition to Trump’s comeback campaign, magnifying his efforts to court tech leaders and young, very online men.

Trump rarely tolerates sharing the spotlight, but he seemed enamored with his powerful backer, mentioning him in stump speeches and welcoming him onstage at rallies.

After the election, Musk was a fixture around Mar-a-Lago, posing for photos with Trump’s family, joining them for dinner, sitting in on meetings. Instead of growing tired of his “first buddy,” Trump made plans to bring Musk along to Washington, appointing him to lead a cost-cutting initiative known as the Department of Government Efficiency.

Cracks emerge

Musk tried to establish himself as the president’s omniscient and omnipresent adviser. He held court in Cabinet meetings, slept over in the Lincoln Bedroom and helped himself to caramel ice cream from the White House kitchen.

Elon Musk listens as President Donald Trump speaks during a news conference in the Oval Office of the White House, Friday, May 30, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

The federal bureaucracy practically trembled before Musk, who oversaw layoffs and downsizing with his team of acolytes and engineers embedded in various agencies.

Musk appeared thrilled at his opportunity to tinker with the government and exulted in his bromance with Trump, posting on Feb. 7 that he loved the president “as much as a straight man can love another man.”

Trump returned the favor on March 11, allowing Musk to line up Tesla vehicles on the White House driveway as his company was struggling with declining sales. Trump made a show of choosing a cherry red electric car for himself.

But cracks were emerging, especially as Trump pursued tariffs that could raise costs for Musk’s businesses. Musk said Peter Navarro, the president’s trade adviser, was “truly a moron” and “dumber than a sack of bricks” on April 8.

The billionaire entrepreneur, who had never before worked in public service, seemed to be souring on government. He suggested there wasn’t enough political will, either in Congress or in the White House, to adequately reduce spending.

Trump started signaling that it was time for him to leave even though Musk said he would be willing to stay.

Shortly before announcing his departure, Musk said he was “disappointed” by legislation that Trump called the “big beautiful bill” because it would increase the deficit. The measure includes tax cuts, more money for border security and changes to Medicaid that would leave fewer people with health insurance.

“I think a bill can be big or it could be beautiful,” Musk said. “But I don’t know if it could be both.”

The criticism didn’t prevent Trump from giving Musk a send-off in the Oval Office, where he presented his outgoing adviser with a ceremonial key.

“Elon is really not leaving,” Trump said. “He’s going to be back and forth.”

Musk said, “I’ll continue to be visiting here and be a friend and adviser to the president.”

The implosion comes hard and fast

It’s hard to imagine that now.

Musk escalated his attacks on the legislation Tuesday, calling it a “disgusting abomination,” and Trump tried to fend off the criticism.

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“He hasn’t said bad about me personally, but I’m sure that will be next,” the president said Thursday in the Oval Office during a meeting with the German chancellor.

It was.

Musk quickly took to X to vent his anger at Trump, saying his tariffs “will cause a recession in the second half of this year” and accusing him of lying. He also said it was “very unfair” that the legislation would eliminate tax incentives for electric vehicles.

Trump fired back in real time as he tried to maintain momentum for his legislation, which faces a difficult debate in the Senate.

“I don’t mind Elon turning against me, but he should have done so months ago,” the president posted. “This is one of the Greatest Bills ever presented to Congress.”

Meanwhile, some of Trump’s allies plotted revenge.

Steve Bannon, a former Trump adviser who hosts an influential conservative podcast, said the president should direct the U.S. government to seize SpaceX. He also encouraged Trump to investigate allegations that Musk uses drugs and “go through everything about his immigration status” in preparation for potential deportation.

“We’ll see how good Elon Musk takes a little of that pressure,” Bannon said, “because I happen to think a little of that pressure might be coming.”

Associated Press writers Tom Beaumont, Kevin Freking and Michelle L. Price contributed to this report.

By JONATHAN J. COOPER, Associated Press

Last Friday, President Donald Trump heaped praise on Elon Musk as the tech billionaire prepared to leave his unorthodox White House job.

Less than a week later, their potent political alliance met a dramatic end Thursday when the men attacked each other with blistering epithets. Trump threatened to go after Musk’s business interests. Musk called for Trump’s impeachment.

Here’s a look at the implosion of their relationship in their own words.

The goodbye

“Today it’s about a man named Elon. And he’s one of the greatest business leaders and innovators the world has ever produced. He stepped forward to put his very great talents into the service of our nation and we appreciate it. Just want to say that Elon has worked tirelessly helping lead the most sweeping and consequential government reform program in generations.” — Trump, May 30, Oval Office remarks.

Trump invited cameras into the Oval Office last week to bid farewell to Musk, who said he was stepping away from his government work to focus on his businesses.

Trump spoke effusively of Musk and his work with the Department of Government Efficiency for nearly 15 minutes straight.

President Donald Trump attends a meeting with the Fraternal Order of Police in the State Dinning Room of the White House, Thursday, June 5, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

“I’ll continue to be visiting here and be a friend and adviser to the president,” Musk said. He marveled at the gold-tinged decorations Trump placed around the Oval Office.

“The oval office finally has the majesty that it deserves thanks to the president,” he said.

The budget dispute

“I’m sorry, but I just can’t stand it anymore. This massive, outrageous, pork-filled Congressional spending bill is a disgusting abomination. Shame on those who voted for it: you know you did wrong. You know it.” — Musk, Tuesday, post on X.

Days after their Oval Office meeting, Musk escalated his previously restrained criticism of Trump’s “big, beautiful” budget bill, the president’s top congressional priority.

Still, he kept his critique focused on their policy disagreement. He did not go after Trump by name, even as he called on Republican lawmakers to vote down the bill and threatened political retribution against those who took Trump’s side.

Elon Musk attends news conference with President Donald Trump in the Oval Office of the White House, Friday, May 30, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

“In November next year, we fire all politicians who betrayed the American people,” Musk wrote on X.

Uncharacteristically for a man who rarely lets a snub go unanswered, Trump did not respond. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Musk’s views on the bill were not a surprise to Trump, and his social media posting “doesn’t change the president’s opinion.”

Musk continued Wednesday, approvingly sharing social media posts and memes that criticized the budget’s price tag and deficit impacts, though still directing his ire at Congress.

The bitter breakup

“Elon and I had a great relationship. I don’t know if we will anymore.” — Trump, Thursday, Oval Office meeting with the German chancellor.

Trump said he was “very disappointed in Elon” and was surprised by his benefactor’s criticism.

The war of words escalated rapidly from there. It all played out on their respective social media platforms, with Musk posting on X and Trump on Truth Social.

Musk dismissed Trump’s criticism. “Whatever,” he wrote. He shared old Trump social media posts urging lawmakers to oppose deficit spending and increasing the debt ceiling.

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“Without me, Trump would have lost the election, Dems would control the House and the Republicans would be 51-49 in the Senate,” Musk posted, a reference to Musk’s record political spending last year, which topped $250 million.

“Such ingratitude,” he added.

Trump said Musk had worn out his welcome at the White House and was mad that Trump was changing electric vehicle policies in ways that would financially harm Musk-led Tesla.

“Elon was ‘wearing thin,’ I asked him to leave, I took away his EV Mandate that forced everyone to buy Electric Cars that nobody else wanted (that he knew for months I was going to do!), and he just went CRAZY!” Trump wrote.

He added: “The easiest way to save money in our Budget, Billions and Billions of Dollars, is to terminate Elon’s Governmental Subsidies and Contracts. I was always surprised that Biden didn’t do it!”

Musk goes nuclear

“Time to drop the really big bomb: Trump is in the Epstein files. That is the real reason they have not been made public. Have a nice day, DJT!” — Musk, Thursday, X post.

In a series of posts, he shined a spotlight on ties between Trump and Jeffrey Epstein, the financier who killed himself while awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges. Some loud voices in Trump’s “Make America Great Again” movement claim Epstein’s suicide was staged by powerful figures, including prominent Democrats, who feared Epstein would expose their involvement in trafficking. Trump’s own FBI leaders have dismissed such speculation and there’s no evidence supporting it.

Later, when an X user suggested Trump be impeached and replaced by Vice President JD Vance, Musk agreed.

“Yes,” he wrote.

“I don’t mind Elon turning against me, but he should have done so months ago,” Trump wrote. He went on to promote his budget bill.