Rep. D'Esposito to Newsmax: Negotiating With Columbia Protesters 'Ridiculous'

Rep. Anthony D'Esposito, R-N.Y., told Newsmax on Wednesday that it's "absolutely ridiculous" that the administration at Columbia University is negotiating with the pro-Palestinian protesters who have shut down normal operations at the school.

Columbia issued a statement Wednesday morning saying it is "making important progress with representatives of the student encampment on the West lawn" and that "the university will continue conversations for the next 48 hours."

"Honestly, I don't even know where to start," D'Esposito said during an appearance on "Wake Up America." "I spoke to these [Jewish] students. I was at Columbia University on Monday with Congressman [Mike] Lawler [R-N.Y.] and [Nassau] County Executive [Bruce] Blakeman and [radio host] Sid Rosenberg, and we spoke to these students, and they are scared. When you have people chanting death to Israel, death to America, you have people wearing bandanas and shirts and screaming, 'I am Hamas, I am Hezbollah,' these are terrorist organizations that they are praising, and the fact that the leadership at Columbia University does not and cannot make a decision is absolutely ridiculous. There's nothing to negotiate here. The only thing that we should be hoping for is that Hamas surrenders and that … the hostages are released.

"That's what we should be focused on," he continued. "This encampment, everything that's happening at Columbia University, they should be removed from the quad, they should go back to class. The fact that they're learning virtually is absolutely insane. I mean, this is one of the highest-regarded educational institutions in the world and the comments that they're making, negotiating with individuals like we just saw who were screaming death to America, death to Israel, calling the New York City Police Department members of the KKK, that's who we're negotiating with to try to get to an outcome? It's absolutely ridiculous. The president of the college needs to resign or be removed immediately."

D'Esposito also said he responded to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., on social media, calling out the progressive lawmaker on X for describing the Columbia protests as "peaceful."

"No, it's not peaceful, and I tweeted back to AOC yesterday," he said. "When you have people getting stabbed in the eye with flags, when you have flags of the United States of America being burnt in the street, when you have people marching with flares and fire, when you have people being assaulted, when you have police officers being assaulted, nothing of that sounds rational, and the fact that we have so-called leaders in this city and members of the House of Representatives who are actually condoning this is insane."

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