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Sen. Tom Cotton Calls Out ABC Host For Attempting To ‘Move On’ From Discussing College Protests

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[Screenshot/ABC News/"This Week"]

Hailey Gomez General Assignment Reporter
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Republican Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton called out ABC host Jonathan Karl Sunday after attempting to “move on” from discussing college pro-Palestine protests.

Cotton appeared on ABC’s “This Week” to discuss the ongoing campus protests across the U.S. as many students have demanded that their schools divest from companies that are connected to Israel. As Karl called out the “vile stuff” going on in “some” of the pro-Palestine campus protesting he asked Cotton if they could both agree that peaceful protests were okay. (RELATED: Massive American Flag Unveiled Over George Washington University Pro-Palestine Encampment)

“You can protest all you want. If you want to make a fool of yourself and support a terrorist group, you can do that. Now if you are a foreigner, you can’t. Where’s Joe Biden’s administration demanding that universities turn over the names of any foreign students here on a visa, revoking those visas and deporting them? That’s something that Joe Biden can do today. But you are not allowed to violate the rules and policies and break the law,” Cotton stated.

“Where were the liberal administrators and liberal politicians sending in the police on the very first day? We should not have tolerated this for a moment. You have Jewish students who have been assaulted on campus. Jewish students have been told it’s not safe for you to come, go back home. Just blocks from here, Jon, you have one of the biggest ‘little Gazas’ left in George Washington University. Yesterday they called for a guillotine for the beheading of university administrators. Is that non-violent?”

“No, like I said there’s no doubt there’s plenty of vile stuff — there’s lots of vile things going on. There’s no doubt there’s also people legitimately protesting Israeli policy,” Karl responded.

Cotton continued to call out the violence seen across campus protests, noting how at George Washington University (GWU) a statue of George Washington was seen defaced by protesters as they covered the statue’s head with a military Arab scarf, known as a keffiyeh, draped with a Palestinian flag like a cape, and stickers placed all over.

However, while Karl called the act “indefensible” he quickly attempted to move on to talk about 2024, asking Cotton on reportedly making presumptive Donald Trump’s VP list.

“What’s underneath it all it’s anti-Semitic and anti-Israeli. What’s underneath it all is a hatred for this country. That’s why you find fliers once they get cleared out and it says death to America and while just blocks from where we sit right now, these fanatics have defaced a statue of George Washington. They spray painted it calling him a genocidal warmonger, and put a terrorist headdress on George Washington,” Cotton continued.

“That’s indefensible. But let me move on. You made your views abundantly clear, but let me move onto 2024. You’ve been mentioned as a possible Trump running mate. Is that talk real?” Karl questioned.

“Well first off Jon, what we’re talking about is 2024. One of the many reasons why Donald Trump is going to win this election is you’ve got Democratic protesters out there putting a terrorist headdress on a statue of George Washington,” Cotton pushed back.

“I mean I don’t know who is a Democrat or not. A lot of people are very upset with Joe Biden. But about you, are you — is that real, this talk of you being a running mate?” Karl pressed.

“You have patriots like these frat boys at UNC and around the country who are defending the American flag and Joe Biden refused for two weeks to come out and denounce it. That is the 2024 election,” Cotton stated.

As students at GWU have been protesting for nearly two weeks, they were recorded in their encampment Friday holding a “People’s Tribunal” and putting school administrators such as President Ellen Granberg, Provost Christopher Bracey, the Board of Trustees, and GW police on mock trial. In a video posted to X (formerly known as Twitter) by citizen journalist Stu, protesters could be heard shouting “Guillotine” while a stand-in Granberg stood in front of the group.

“Bracey, Bracey, we see you. You assault students too. Off to the motherfucking gallows with you,” protesters chanted.