Donald Trump claims ‘paid agitators’ are part of pro-Palestine protests in Colombia

Former President Trump made baseless claims Tuesday that pro-Palestinian protests at Columbia University contained “paid agitators” as protests on college campuses across the country escalated.

Hundreds of New York Police Department officers, many with batons and riot gear, evacuated protest camps at Columbia University on Tuesday night, including arresting students occupying a campus building.

Trump stated in a Fox News interview with Sean Hannity during the police raid that many of the protesters did not believe in why they were protesting.

“I do think there are a lot of paid agitators, professional agitators here as well, and I see it all,” he said. “You know, when you see signs and they’re all identical. This means they are being paid by one source.”

“You know, these aren’t hand-painted signs where people go in their basement and paint something because they really believe in it. They are all identical cards to those made by the same printer,” she continued. “And you know, when you see that, it means that there is someone at the top who is paying, or a group that is paying, and they are doing the world a great disservice, but they are doing our country a great disservice.”

There is no evidence that any protester at Columbia University or at any of the pro-Palestine protests across the country is a paid protester or is not an authentic protester.

The police response in Columbia comes after tensions have been rising for days, with the campus the first of hundreds of similar protests across the country against the Biden administration’s response to the Israel-Hamas war. The protests demanded a ceasefire in the conflict, an end to military aid to Israel and for its colleges and universities to divest themselves of Israeli interests.

Colombia is at the center of political attention in the protests. The campus received visits from House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), Governor Kathy Hochul (DN.Y.) and several members of Congress from both sides of the aisle over the past week.

Lawmakers from both parties have called on Columbia University President Minouche Shafik to resign if the protests cannot be quickly suppressed.

Both Trump and President Biden have denounced the protests, with Trump calling the demonstrations “a sad thing to see” on Tuesday, adding jabs at Biden.

“We have to go back to our roots, we have to protect, we have to end the anti-Semitism that permeates our country right now,” Trump said. “And Biden has to do something. Biden is supposed to be the voice of our country, and he is certainly not a great voice.”

More than a thousand students have been detained across the country in similar protests, some of which have included violent clashes with police and counter-protesters.