Officials say eight children at a church near Harvard University where a French youth choir was holding a concert suffered seizure-like symptoms and were taken to hospitals.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said a probe will ensure the programme does ‘not run contrary to our nation’s interests’.

The investigation comes only two days after a federal judge cast doubt on the Trump administration’s argument in Harvard’s lawsuit over federal funding.

“They’ve realized that they can take a bit of a step further, that they can advance their policy priorities through those levers they have through the state university system,” said Preston Cooper, a senior fellow who studies higher education policy at the conservative American Enterprise Institute.

Harvard has faced mounting sanctions and scrutiny from Washington since rejecting demands from a federal antisemitism task force in April.