GOP House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) address protests at
Columbia University, threatens to cut funding, and makes gross errors in the
process reported on below from ABC
NEWS with this headline:
“Speaker Johnson alleges
Hamas support for Anti-Israel Campus Protests, Threatens Intervention”
Visiting Columbia University, GOP House Speaker “MAGA Mike”
Johnson (R-LA) considers need for National Guard.
Johnson claiming that Hamas supports the pro-Palestinian,
anti-Israel protests at Columbia University, and other colleges and
Universities, threatened congressional intervention, including pulling federal
funding from the institutions.
Johnson, the top House Republican, said in a post on X: “The things that have happened at the hands of
Hamas are horrific, and yet these protestors are out there waving flags for the
very people who committed those crimes. This is not who we are in America.”
Note: ABC News has not documented any cases of protesters waving
Hamas flags, as Johnson suggested.
Student protests at Columbia and other schools have
primarily denounced Israeli military action in Gaza, and expressed support for
Palestinian civilians, rather than expressing support for Hamas. School
administrators and officials have said the protests on their campuses have been
largely peaceful.
Background overall on
Johnson’s remarks:
Johnson cited Hamas spokesperson, Izzat al-Risheq, who blamed President Biden for “Violating the individual rights and the right to expression through arresting university students and faculty members for their rejection of the genocide to which our Palestinians are being subjected to in the Gaza Strip at the hands of the neo-Nazi Zionists. Today's students are the leaders of the future, and their suppression today means an expensive electoral bill that Biden administration will pay sooner or later.”
In response to that Hamas'
statement, White House Deputy Press Secretary Andrew Bates told ABC News: “Hamas
perpetrated the deadliest massacre of the Jewish people since the Holocaust,
which makes them the least credible voice that exists on this subject. Hamas'
disapproval, after their acts of 'unadulterated evil' -- which they've pledged
to repeat 'again and again' -- is a testament to President Biden's moral clarity.
President Biden has stood against Antisemitism his entire life. And he will
never stop.”
Johnson's comments came a day after he visited Columbia University, where he met with Jewish
students and joined his New York House Republican colleagues in calling for the
school's president, Minouche Shafik, to resign if she can't bring order to the
protests. In an interview with ABC News' Linsey Davis, Johnson cited the
statement and said Hamas sees Columbia's protesters as the future leaders of
America adding and he added: “We should hope not. Hamas is a terrorist
organization.”
Johnson also told ABC News reporter Davis, and then in a separate post on X: “Federal funding should be revoked if
universities cannot maintain control of the protests and prevent violence. If
school administrators can't get control of this, we will take the funding away
from these universities. Congress has a responsibility to do that, the power of
the purse, and we will use it, and we will hold these administrators
accountable.”
Fact: Johnson mentioned violence on campus, yet the NYPD said
earlier: “There are no credible threats to any particular group or individual. We
have not received any reports of physical harm toward any students at Columbia
University.”
My 2 Cents: Speaker
Johnson has an historical record of blatant lying as pointed out above and especially
with his undying support and standing and imitating Trump come hell or high water.
The article above proves
that point again and again.
In my opinion, Johnson is
not apt to be in the Speakers position much longer, but we shall see.
Thanks for stopping by.
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