NEW YORK -- US President Trump said on Friday that Harvard University would lose its tax-exempt status, repeating his intent to enlist the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) in his feud with the university and upend its finances.

"We are going to be taking away Harvard's Tax Exempt Status. It's what they deserve!" Trump wrote on social media.

However, an administration official said the president's social-media post wasn't a formal directive to the IRS to take action, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Trump's comment comes after Harvard filed a lawsuit late last month against the administration, setting up a legal showdown between America's most prominent university and the White House.

The suit argues that the government has violated the university's constitutional rights by freezing billions of dollars in federal funding and imperiling its academic independence.