Dems attack Johnson over impassioned Columbia speech condemning anti-Israel student activists

Top Democrats are pouncing on House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., after he gave an impassioned speech condemning the anti-Israel protests on Columbia University's campus.

"Why would I ever listen to a man that thinks he should have more say over my body than I do? NEXT," Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., wrote on X under a photo of Johnson at Columbia.

She responded to a report about students heckling Johnson, "Good, he’s trying to take all their reproductive rights away."

Johnson and several New York House Republicans – Reps. Nicole Malliotakis, Anthony D'Esposito, and Mike Lawler – visited with Jewish students on the Manhattan Ivy League campus on Thursday after days of demonstrations left them fearing for their own safety.

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The speaker denounced the "mob" of pro-ceasefire activists who set up an encampment on the Columbia campus as well as the faculty and staff aiding them. Those protesters loudly booed Johnson's remarks on Thursday, to which at one point he shot back, "Enjoy your free speech."

New York's Democratic Governor Kathy Hochul accused Johnson of politicizing the demonstrations in comments to reporters in Albany, according to Politico.

"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 said. "It seems to me there’s a lot more responsibilities and crises to be dealt with in Washington…I’d encourage the speaker to go back and perhaps take up the migrant bill, the bill to deal with closing the borders, so we can deal with the real crisis that New York has."

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