House Speaker Johnson calls for Shafik resignation over Columbia Gaza protests, says National Guard may be needed

NEW YORK — U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson on Wednesday called on Columbia University President Minouche Shafik to resign over her handling of the Gaza protests and said the national guard may be needed to restore order, as he met with Jewish students feeling unsafe and targeted amid the campus unrest.

“My intention is to call President Biden after we leave here,” Johnson told reporters outside the campus library, “and share with him what we have seen with our own two eyes and demand that he take action. There is executive authority that is appropriate.”

“If this is not contained quickly, and if these threats and intimidation are not stopped, there is an appropriate time for the National Guard. We have to bring order to these campuses,” he said.

University officials briefed the media after Johnson’s press conference, making clear Columbia is not requesting the National Guard.

Johnson first said Shafik should quit earlier in the day on the The Hugh Hewitt Show, a conservative radio talkshow.

“President Shafik has shown to be a very weak and inept leader,” Johnson said. “They cannot even guarantee the safety of Jewish students. They’re expected to run for their lives and stay home from class. It’s just, it’s maddening.”

Amid growing concern about antisemitism, school officials and student protestors have been trying to hash out a brokered solution to end the campus antiwar tent encampment. Shafik had given a midnight Tuesday night deadline for demonstrators to shut down the encampment, whose organizers are demanding Columbia divest from Israel. That was extended 48 hours early Wednesday.

Johnson is the highest-ranking elected official to demand Shafik’s resignation, after several Republican lawmakers called for an end to her nascent tenure on Monday.

New York Reps. Mike Lawler, Nicole Malliotakis and Anthony D’Esposito, and House Education Committee Chairwoman Virginia Foxx, joined him on campus, where students have erected a week-long encampment to demand Columbia divest from Israel and reverse pro-Palestinian student and faculty discipline.

“Some of these kids who are protesting,” Johnson continued, “you and I both know the vast majority of them have no idea what they’re talking. They don’t know the facts. Some of them are denying that Oct. 7 even happened.”

More than 100 students gathered at the bottom of the Low Library steps, chanting “we can’t hear you” and “Mike, you suck.”

The Speaker retorted: “Enjoy your free speech.”

Shafik, who testified before the Republican-led House education committee last week, has not indicated any plans to resign, with university officials saying she “is focused on de-escalating the rancor on Columbia’s campus.”

“The Speaker of the House will visit campus today, as have a number of public officials in recent days. It is our policy to support those visits, and we are working with his team to ensure the safety and security of his delegation,” Columbia spokesman Ben Chang said in a statement.

Gov. Hochul, who privately visited Columbia on Monday to discuss public safety, blasted Johnson for his visit.

“It seems to me there’s a lot more responsibilities and crises to be dealt with in Washington,” Hochul said at a Wednesday press conference.

“Politicizing this and bringing the entourage to put a spotlight on this is only adding to the division, and a speaker worth the title should really be trying to heal people and not divide them,” she added.

Rep. Jerry Nadler, D-New York, accused Johnson of hypocrisy, after the speaker met last week with the head of the largest Christian Zionist organization, who he accused of being an extreme, far-right Christian nationalist. Nadler earlier this week condemned antisemitism on Columbia’s campus but stopped short of calling on Shafik to resign.

“Today, @SpeakerJohnson will visit @Columbia University under the guise of combatting antisemitism,” Nadler said on X. “If the Speaker wants to actually combat antisemitism and not just score cheap political points, he must stop ignoring the antisemitism in his own party.”

_____