President Trump said one of the richest private schools in America will be expected to "pay back" the money it received as part of the coronavirus economic relief package.

During Tuesday's White House Task Force coronavirus briefing, Trump said he would personally ask Harvard University to pay back the nearly $9 million it received from the historic legislation he signed late last month.

"Harvard's going to pay back the money," Trump said. "And they shouldn't be taking it so, Harvard's going to, you have a number of them, I'm not going to mention any names, but when I saw Harvard, they have one of the largest endowments anywhere in the country, maybe in the world I guess, and they're going to pay back that money."

Trump accused the Ivy League school, which has a $40 billion endowment, of taking the money reserved to help struggling businesses stay afloat during an extended period of quarantine.

In a statement that followed, Harvard acknowledged it did receive funds from the $2.2 trillion CARES ACT, but not from the Payment Protection Program, a federal government assistance program dedicated to helping small businesses overcome the economic downturn caused by the coronavirus which last week ran out of money.

“Harvard did not apply for, nor has it received any funds through the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Paycheck Protection Program for small businesses. Reports saying otherwise are inaccurate. President Trump is right that it would not have been appropriate for our institution to receive funds that were designated for struggling small businesses," Harvard said in a statement.

“Like most colleges and universities, Harvard has been allocated funds as part of the CARES Act Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund. Harvard has committed that 100% of these emergency higher education funds will be used to provide direct assistance to students facing urgent financial needs due to the COVID-19 pandemic," the statement continued. “This financial assistance will be on top of the support the University has already provided to students – including assistance with travel, providing direct aid for living expenses to those with need, and supporting students’ transition to online education."

On Tuesday, the Senate passed the second installment of the PPE, an additional $484 billion during an empty session in Congress as lawmakers remain out of Washington, D.C., until early May because of the coronavirus.

Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin was more lenient in his approach, suggesting the guidelines for who qualifies as a small business needed to be updated so that companies and universities could better understand the process.

"Certain people on the PPE may have not been clear in understanding the certification," said Mnuchin. "We will give people the benefit of the doubt, we're going to put an FAQ out, explain the certification, if you pay back the loan right away, you won't have liability to the SBA and to Treasury."