House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) is urging President Biden to visit Columbia University and observe the pro-Palestine protests roiling its Manhattan campus after Johnson and a group of Republican lawmakers stopped at the university premises and denounced the demonstrations.
Asked during a press conference on Tuesday whether he would challenge Biden to visit Columbia – which has been the site of one of the most explosive pro-Palestine protests in the US – Johnson replied: “Yes, I do.”
“In fact, after we left campus, I called senior political advisors at the White House. The president was traveling, as was I, and we didn’t connect right away, but I encouraged him to go and see for himself,” he added.
The Hill has reached out to the White House for comment.
Johnson held a press conference on Columbia’s Manhattan campus alongside other House Republicans last week, where they called on the university’s president, Nemat Shafik, to resign after pro-Palestine protests, which include a camp, took hold. of the college grounds. Lawmakers met with Shafik shortly before delivering his remarks, which drew boos from students in attendance.
The GOP group also called on protesting students to return to class and stop the demonstrations.
At the time, Johnson said he planned to call Biden to “share with him what we saw with our own eyes and demand that he take action”, arguing that “there is executive authority that would be appropriate”. He also suggested that the National Guard be sent to quell the protests, saying that “if this is not contained quickly and if these threats and intimidation are not stopped, there is an appropriate time for the National Guard.”
Demonstrations in Columbia escalated overnight Tuesday when a group of pro-Palestinian protesters took control of an academic building, blocking entrances and flying a Palestinian flag outside a window.
The White House condemned this development, calling it “absolutely the wrong approach.”
“The president believes that forcibly taking over a building on campus is absolutely the wrong approach, this is not an example of peaceful protests,” White House national security communications adviser John Kirby told reporters on Tuesday.
“Hate speech and hate symbols also have no place in this country. A small percentage of students should not be able to disrupt the academic experience, the legitimate study, for the rest of the student body,” she added.
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