Speaker of the House Mike Johnson referred to Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar's criticism of his appearance at Columbia University amidst protesting by pro-Palestinian and anti-Zionist activists as "absolutely absurd."
Protests kicked off at Columbia last week as some students created a Gaza encampment. University President Minouche Shafik later called on NYPD to disperse the crowds of protesters across campus. Over 100 people were arrested.
On Wednesday, Johnson spoke at Columbia University and denounced the protests as antisemitic. He also called for Shafik's resignation.
Omar later panned Johnson's appearance at the university during a Wednesday segment on MSNBC, claiming the Speaker's language was dangerous to students on campus.
"It is not surprising that he would go out to Columbia University and stir up really more anger and hate and endanger the lives of young people who are at the encampment at Columbia University," Omar said.
"It's absurd. It's absolutely absurd for her to say that," Johnson told Fox News' Brian Kilmeade on Thursday. "It's incredible that I was going there to meet with and speak out on behalf of Jewish students. Safety could be seen as divisive in any way. This is exactly the problem. It's actually an issue that ought to be uniting every elected official."
Johnson noted some elected officials have been afraid to speak out against the protests, though noted Omar and other progressive Democrats were "saying exactly the wrong thing."
"Look, if these universities would be held accountable and then protect their students on campus, we wouldn't need to be there," he continued. "We wouldn't need to speak out. And the House has taken action to do everything that's within our power, and we're going to do more. But we need everybody who has a platform, every elected official to be on the right side of this. And sadly, some of them are doing exactly the wrong thing."
In a statement to Fox News Digital, Johnson said the decision to speak at Columbia University came directly from Democratic leaders' inability to protect Jewish students.
"Speaker Johnson spoke to students at Columbia University because Governor Hochul and other officials in New York have completely failed in their duty to protect Jewish students and combat the rise of antisemitism in their party. We wish it hadn’t been necessary," the statement read.
