President Joe Biden delivered surprise remarks on Thursday about campus protests after days of intense pressure from both sides of the political spectrum for the nation’s leader to do and say more.
The White House denied that his decision to speak now had anything to do with the criticism. Instead, they said he wanted to be “very clear” on where he stood — emphasizing his message that violence is not a protected form of protest and that campuses should be free of hate speech.
“When it comes to something like this, he doesn’t need to follow anyone,” press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters on Air Force One after Biden’s remarks. “It has nothing to do with following anyone’s lead. The president, if anything, has been a leader on this.”