During the Friday, May 3, White House Press Conference, Fox News Channel White House Correspondent Peter Doocy held White House Press Secretary Karine Jean Pierre’s feet to the fire over what she had told students at Columbia University, her alma mater, in the past. Specifically, he asked if her comments about “idealism” are still ones she agrees with as the campus chaos continues.
As background, Columbia University has been the ground zero for much of the anti-Israel chaos that swept the country’s college and universities, with pro-Palestine protesters even taking over the school’s Hamilton Hall as part of their protest, sparking a battle with New York City Police officers who were sent to clear them out after days of chaos. It is also where much of the campus protesting began, with Ilhan Omar’s daughter among those arrested in the early days of the protesting.
Columbia University also happens to be where KJP went to school. Asking her about that on Friday, and about what she told Columbia University students in the past, Doocy said, “You are an alumna of Columbia University.” She sarcastically responded, saying, “Wow, that’s a shocker.”
Pressing on despite that, Doccy said, as KJP kept interrupting him by saying “yeah,” “Well, you — in all the talking about it — you haven’t brought it up. You told Columbia students a few years back —’Don’t lose the idealism that you have.’ So, what do you tell them now?”
She fired back, to laughter from the press pool, “Oh, you did — you did some research. Oh, my gosh.” He fired back, “All I do is research and just hope that you call on me.” Then, as she kept laughing and sarcastically making comment, Doocy asked, “But now, I — what do you tell the —the students — who have followed in your footsteps?”
She finally got to answering the question, telling him, “Look, I mean — look, going to be — oh, and that’s actually going to be a great segue to — to the student re- — student journalist that we have in the room, Danie, after I answer this question. So, look, I’m not speaking on behalf of me. I’m — I’m not. I speak on behalf of this President. That’s my job. And I believe in this President. I believe in the work that we do. It is an honor and a privilege to stand at this lectern every day to speak to you and all your colleagues and to take your questions. It is not about me.”
She continued, “And, really, your question and what you’re asking me and — and what I have said to students is pretty much what the President has said: All Americans have the right to peacefully protest within the law. They have to — we have the right. That’s what makes this country so great, right? That’s what makes what — when we’re talking about our freedoms, our democracy, that’s what’s so important. The — to have the opportunity to agree and disagree and do it in a peaceful way — in a peaceful way, that’s important.”
Then, concluding, she told him, “And the President also called out — if you’re — if you are breaking and entering and you’re taking over buildings, that is not peacefully protesting. And the President was very clear about calling that out as well and also antisemitism and calling it what it is. It is hate speech.”
Watch her here:
Featured image credit: screeengrab from the embedded video
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