House speaker condemned for remarks on pro-Palestine student protests | Mike Johnson

Progressive activists have condemned Mike Johnson, the speaker of the House of Representatives, for “willfully spreading misinformation” and “inciting violence” in a TV interview about student protests against Israel’s war in Gaza.

Johnson, who was booed and heckled during a press conference at Columbia University on Wednesday, when he said Hamas “backed” the protests in a CNN interview. There is no evidence Hamas has had any role in the student protests, though the organization has praised the demonstration. The Republican went on to make sweeping, incendiary claims: “Some…