The White House Thursday deflected House Speaker Mike Johnson‘s (R-LA) request to send National Guard assets to police pro-Gaza protests at Columbia University, saying it’s New York Gov. Kathy Hochul’s (D-NY) call.
Johnson visited Columbia on Wednesday, where he called on university President Minouche Shafik to resign and added that he planned on calling President Joe Biden personally to request he send in the National Guard.
“I’m here to proclaim to all those who gnash their teeth and demand to wipe the State of Israel off the map and attack our innocent Jewish students this simple truth: Neither Israel, nor these Jewish students on this campus, will ever stand alone,” he declared.
Asked about Johnson’s comments on Thursday, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters they had not received a call from the speaker’s office.
“That is something that is under the governors,” she said of Johnson’s request to mobilize National Guardsmen. “As you know, Gov. Hochul visited Columbia University recently, and so she spoke to that. So I would just refer you to her comments. That is something for governors to decide.”
Biden has condemned the “vile” antisemitism on display from some protesters, while simultaneously voicing compassion for the people of Gaza. Jean-Pierre echoed that rhetoric on Thursday.
“[Biden] talked about how Passover — as Jewish Americans were celebrating Passover, and he said that antisemitism basically is wrong, and that we should call that out,” she continued. “There is no place, no place for hate or hateful rhetoric or any type of violence, obviously, and that’s what that is.”
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You can listen to Jean-Pierre’s comments in full below.
