Johnson demands Biden send in National Guard during raucous Columbia visit

NEW YORK — Speaker Mike Johnson said he will call Joe Biden and demand the president send the National Guard to Columbia University — an escalation after protesters constantly shouted him and other Republicans down during a visit to the campus Wednesday.

Johnson, flanked by GOP lawmakers from New York and elsewhere, repeated his calls for the university’s embattled president to step down. But protesters shouted “who are you people?” “Mike, you suck!” and chanted “free Palestine,” making it almost impossible for the gaggle of reporters and others to hear the speaker.

“This is dangerous. This is not the First Amendment, this is not free expression,” Johnson said.

He later added: “If this is not contained quickly and if these threats and intimidation are not stopped, there is an appropriate time for the National Guard.”

Johnson directly faced the Gaza Solidarity Encampment that has thrown the Ivy League campus into turmoil over the past week — demonstrations that have drawn bipartisan anger over incidents of antisemitism. Johnson earlier in the day called Columbia President Minouche Shafik a “weak and inept leader” who can’t guarantee the safety of Jewish students during a radio interview.

While he’s the most senior elected official so far to push for Shafik’s resignation, numerous Republican lawmakers — including New York’s GOP delegation — and at least one Democrat, Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.), are also pushing for her ouster.

“My message to the students inside the encampment is go back to class and stop the nonsense,” Johnson said. “Stop wasting your parents’ money.”

Johnson’s comments Wednesday capped off a week of chaos at the school that started when Shafik and other university leadership testified before House lawmakers, followed by her calling in police to arrest around 100 pro-Palestinian demonstrators who had camped out on campus. The protests and arrests spawned similar demonstrations at NYU, Yale, MIT and beyond and have become the latest domestic flashpoint in the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict.

“Columbia University is in a free fall,” House Education Committee Chair Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.) said Wednesday, accusing Shafik of presenting false testimony during the hearing.

“I have a message for President Shafik and a message for you all too: The inmates are running the asylum,” she added.

The lawmakers met with Shafik ahead of the news conference, Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.) said, adding that it was time for her “to resign in disgrace.”

“After listening to her comments inside, it is clear she has no intention of getting this university under control,” he said.

Columbia spokesperson Ben Chang said in a Zoom press briefing shortly after the lawmakers spoke that a rumor the university was planning to send in the National Guard was “untrue and an unsubstantiated claim.” But he emphasized that “the current protest is in violation of university rules, full stop,” and that officials were taking action to end it.

In an email sent to the university community at 4:09 a.m Wednesday, the Office of the President wrote that Columbia will continue negotiating with the encampment’s representatives for 48 hours. It also said that demonstrators have committed to “removing a significant number of tents,” ensuring non-affiliates leave the encampment, complying with FDNY rules and prohibiting “discriminatory or harassing language.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday also condemned the campus demonstrations, saying that what’s “happening in America’s college campuses is horrific. Antisemitic mobs have taken over leading universities.”

Like Shafik, Johnson is facing calls to resign. Conservatives livid over his support of military aid to Ukraine are threatening to vote to oust him, and his visit to Columbia seemed like a safe way to bolster his conservative credentials.

“I think by the speaker being here, he’s showing support for the Jewish students,” said Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-N.Y.), who spoke to POLITICO shortly before Johnson arrived on campus and joined him at Columbia. “But really I think that perhaps the real way to get this under control is for the president of the university to resign, and I think the speaker coming here, adding his voice, goes a long way.”

A Columbia spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment and declined to make Shafik available for an interview.

The Upper Manhattan campus wasn’t a familiar scene for Johnson, an evangelical Christian born and raised in the mid-sized city of Shreveport, La., who graduated from Louisiana State University. During a radio appearance Wednesday ahead of the rally, Johnson said his alma mater wouldn’t “tolerate” antisemitism on its campus and that if it happened there now, he’d be “down there myself.”

Democrats have also visited Columbia in recent days to support its Jewish students, including Reps. Josh Gottheimer of New Jersey, Dan Goldman of New York and Jared Moskowitz of Florida. They denounced antisemitism and criticized Shafik and other university administrators for not doing more to protect Jewish students.

President Joe Biden’s position has been less clear. He declined to answer whether Shafik should step down when asked earlier this week, though the White House has released statements condemning antisemitism at Columbia.

Despite bipartisan backlash over the protests, tensions between Democrats and Republicans still rose to the surface.

Gov. Kathy Hochul accused Johnson of playing politics for holding a press conference on campus and sowing further division. The speaker, she said, should instead focus on taking up the border security bill, arguing there’s “a lot more responsibilities and crises to be dealt with in Washington.”

“I think politicizing this and bringing the entourage to put a spotlight on this is only adding to the division,” the governor told reporters. “A speaker worth the title should really be trying to heal people and not divide them. So I don’t think it adds to anything.”

Hochul on Monday morning traveled to the Columbia campus to meet privately with First Deputy Mayor Sheena Wright, Shafik and the NYPD, vowing to protect students dealing with persecution due to their religious beliefs.

Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.) — who has accused Columbia of bowing to “right wing pressure” with its arrests of students — dubbed Johnson’s visit as another tactic in a conservative attack on educational institutions and an effort to silence “anti-war and pro-Palestinian sentiment.”

He accused Johnson and Foxx of working to defund the federal Education Department’s Office of Civil Rights that is probing antisemitism at colleges and universities.

“These Republican right-wing extremists have called for the criminalization and repression of students peacefully protesting for our shared humanity,” Bowman said in a statement.

Jason Beeferman contributed to this report.