Elise Stefanik's star rises after college president takedown

Driving the news: University of Pennsylvania Liz Magill resigned on Saturday after she and the presidents of Harvard and MIT equivocated and evaded Stefanik's questions about whether calls for the genocide of Jews would result in students being punished under the schools' codes of conduct.

• "One down. Two to go," Stefanik posted to X after Magill's resignation.
• Stefanik will extend the drama, saying Thursday she'll launch a GOP probe into antisemitism at elite colleges.

Democrats joined in the fury: "They showed no emotion, they showed no angst, and they just gave their answers like it was a math test," Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.) told Axios' Andrew Solender.

• Cohen said the testimony made him want to look into "other Ivy [League] colleges as well," because "those were the three the committee chose to bring ... but no [college] that I know has done a great job of responding."

Zoom in: Stefanik, the fourth-ranking member of House GOP leadership, is one of former President Trump's most aggressive defenders in Congress.

• Stefanik's Trump backing wasn't always so ironclad, but she's been a staunch supporter since his first impeachment.

• She frequently chats with Trump about the House GOP probes into the prosecutors who have indicted Trump.
• In June, she introduced a resolution that would "expunge" Trump's two impeachments.

Between the lines: Stefanik, a Harvard alumna, was booted from an advisory board at the school after Jan. 6, 2021.

• "Elise has made public assertions about voter fraud in November's presidential election that have no basis in evidence, and she has made public statements about court actions related to the election that are incorrect," said Douglas Elmendorf, the dean of Harvard's school of government, in a statement at the time.
• Stefanik's response was to call the move a "rite of passage and badge of honor."