The White House said Tuesday it won’t back down from a legal fight with California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D), who vowed to sue the administration over its $1 billion settlement demand from the University of California, Los Angeles.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told the Democratic governor to “Bring it on, Gavin!” during her weekly press briefing. 

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“This administration is well within its legal right to do this and we want to ensure that our colleges and our universities are respecting the First Amendment rights and the religious liberties of students on their campuses and UCLA has failed to do that and I have a whole list of examples I will forward to Gavin Newsom’s press office if he hasn’t seen them himself,” Leavitt said. 

Newsom’s press office responded by posting a picture of North Korean state media with the words “Glorious leader is entitled to all treasures of the realm especially from universities.”

Newsom called the $1 billion settlement offer “extortion” and said the state would not bow to the Trump administration’s demands.

“He has threatened us through extortion with a billion-dollar fine, unless we do his bidding,” Newsom said. “We will not be complicit in this kind of attack on academic freedom on this extraordinary public institution.”

The Trump administration is demanding that UCLA pay more than $1 billion to settle allegations that it violated the rights of Jewish and Israeli students. 

The university would be required to pay the federal government $1 billion in installments and establish a $172 million claims fund for people affected by the university system’s alleged civil rights violations. 

It would also require the appointment of a monitor to oversee the university’s operations and the establishment of a senior administrator focused on compliance with antidiscrimination laws.

In addition, the proposed agreement would force sweeping policy changes that include banning overnight demonstrations, overhauling protest policies, ending race- and ethnicity-based scholarships, and granting the resolution monitor access to admissions data. UCLA would also be required to guarantee single-sex housing for women, provide equal athletic recognition for female athletes, and halt “gender-affirming care” at its hospital and medical school. 

The move is the latest effort by the Trump administration to cement its hold on higher education.

UCLA is the first public university to have had federal grants targeted by the White House over alleged civil rights violations related to affirmative action and antisemitism. The Trump administration has frozen or paused federal funding over similar allegations against a host private colleges including Brown University ($510 million), Columbia University ($400 million), Duke University ($108 million), Cornell University ($1 billion), Harvard University ($2.3 billion), Northwestern University ($790 million), and the University of Pennsylvania ($175 million).

Last month, Columbia University agreed to pay $200 million as part of a settlement to resolve investigations into the government’s allegations that the school violated federal antidiscrimination laws. The agreement also restored more than $400 million in research grants.

The Trump administration has used its deal with Columbia as a template to go after other universities.

Last week, the administration started freezing $584 million in federal funding to the California university system, Chancellor Julio Frenk confirmed. He added that if the funds remained suspended, “it will be devastating for UCLA and for Americans across the nation.”

If UCLA agrees to settle, it would be the largest payout of any university that has reached a deal with the White House so far. Columbia agreed to pay $221 million in connection with its settlement with the government, and Brown pledged to spend $50 million on state workforce programs.

Ted Mitchell, president of the American Council on Education, which represents more than 1,700 colleges and universities, said California was “in uncharted territory.” 

“We have seen the government come after Columbia, Brown, Harvard and others,” he said. “But this, now, is a test. Will UCLA be the defender of public universities? Will it strike a deal? And what role will money — taxpayer money — play?”

Michell told the Los Angeles Times, “UCLA is not a random selection.”

TRUMP SEEKING $1 BILLION SETTLEMENT FROM UCLA OVER ANTISEMITISM ALLEGATIONS

“The administration has had issues with California, with the governor, for some time,” he said. “This is part of a larger battle between the administration and the state of California.”

Newsom, a frequent critic of the Trump administration, is widely considered a 2028 Democratic presidential candidate.