{"id":2226848,"date":"2024-04-22T05:23:03","date_gmt":"2024-04-22T09:23:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/eric-holder-says-columbias-campus-agitators-have-legitimate-concerns-his-law-firm-covington-burling-said-their-behavior-would-not-be-tolerated\/"},"modified":"2024-04-22T05:25:21","modified_gmt":"2024-04-22T09:25:21","slug":"eric-holder-says-columbias-campus-agitators-have-legitimate-concerns-his-law-firm-covington-burling-said-their-behavior-would-not-be-tolerated","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/eric-holder-says-columbias-campus-agitators-have-legitimate-concerns-his-law-firm-covington-burling-said-their-behavior-would-not-be-tolerated\/","title":{"rendered":"Eric Holder acknowledges Columbia&#8217;s activists&#8217; valid concerns while his law firm, Covington &#038; Burling, condemns their behavior"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">34<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Feric-holder-says-columbias-campus-agitators-have-legitimate-concerns-his-law-firm-covington-burling-said-their-behavior-would-not-be-tolerated%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2226848&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Former Attorney General Eric Holder\u200d showed support \u200bfor Columbia University&#8217;s student protesters, condemning the disruptive behavior on campus. Holder highlighted \u200cthe protesters&#8217; concerns about Gaza\u2064 and criticized the rise of campus anti-Semitism. Despite his stance, his law firm, Covington &#038; Burling, expressed zero-tolerance \u200bfor such protests.\u200d Holder&#8217;s\u200d involvement and opinions stirred debates around campus activism and anti-Semitism.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p><span>Former <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/breaking-ag-barr-authorizes-federal-prosecutors-to-pursue-substantial-allegations-of-voting-irregularities-before-2020-election-is-certified\/\" title=\"BREAKING: AG Barr Authorizes Federal Prosecutors to Pursue \"Substantial Allegations\" of Voting Irregularities Before 2020 Election is Certified\">attorney general<\/a> Eric Holder rallied behind Columbia University\u2019s student protesters on Thursday as the New York Police Department swooped in and tried to clear the campus green of disruptive protesters acting in violation of university policy.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Holder, a Columbia College and Columbia Law School graduate, said <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/EricHolder\/status\/1781058476791279960\"><span>in a tweet on Thursday<\/span><\/a><span>  that campus &#8220;unrest&#8221; is fueled by &#8220;legitimate concerns about Gaza&#8221; and described congressional hearings about the explosion of campus anti-Semitism in the wake of Oct. 7 as &#8220;irresponsible-unproductive-witch hunt-political hearings.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Holder\u2019s defense of the Columbia protesters, who were violating of university policy and <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2024\/04\/18\/us-news\/i-had-a-front-row-seat-to-protest-madness-at-columbia-university\/\"><span>shouting<\/span><\/a><span>  anti-Semitic <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.jpost.com\/diaspora\/antisemitism\/article-797906\"><span>slogans<\/span><\/a><span> including &#8220;Globalize the intifada&#8221; and &#8220;NYPD, KKK, IDF, you&#8217;re all the same,&#8221;<\/span> <span>does not square with his law firm Covington &#038; Burling&#8217;s decision late last year to <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.law.com\/americanlawyer\/2023\/11\/02\/big-law-firms-call-on-top-law-schools-to-condemn-anti-israel-protests-harassment-405-131250\/\"><span>sign a letter<\/span><\/a><span>, along with dozens of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/top-law-firms-are-hosting-drag-queen-bingo-will-they-really-shun-the-scotus-leaker\/\" title=\"Top Law Firms Are Hosting Drag Queen Bingo. Will They Really Shun the SCOTUS Leaker?\">white shoe firms<\/a>, expressing zero-tolerance for the disruptive, anti-Semitic protests <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wow-pa-election-observer-drops-bombshell-says-special-agents-from-ags-office-showed-up-at-her-door-to-question-her-after-she-testified-video\/\" title=\"WOW! PA Election Observer Drops BOMBSHELL - Says Special Agents from AG's Office Showed Up at Her Door to Question Her After She Testified (VIDEO)\">taking place<\/a> on college and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/pro-life-should-prepare-for-more-doxing-as-abortion-activists-rage-inflames\/\" title=\"Pro-Life Should Prepare For More Doxing As Abortion Activists\u2019 Rage Inflames\">law school campuses<\/a> across the country.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>&#8220;As employers who recruit from each of your law schools, we look to you to ensure your students who hope to join our firms after graduation are prepared to be an active part of workplace communities that have zero tolerance policies for any form of discrimination or harassment, much less the kind that has been taking place on some law school campuses,&#8221; the letter stated. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Chants calling for &#8220;the death of Jews and the elimination of the state of Israel,&#8221; Covington and other firms said, are &#8220;anti-Semitic activities&#8221; that &#8220;would not be tolerated at any of our firms.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p>A team of Covington lawyers led by partner Dana Remus also represented Columbia and helped prepare Columbia president Minouche Shafik for her appearance before a House panel last week, according to a source familiar with the situation.<\/p>\n<blockquote data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">\ud83d\udccd NYC &#8211; &#8216;We are Hamas \u2026 We\u2019re all Hamas \u2026 Long live Hamas&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>Recognize these terror supporters? DM us! <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/RmjQL7678q\">pic.twitter.com\/RmjQL7678q<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 StopAntisemitism (@StopAntisemites) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/StopAntisemites\/status\/1780760408116359601?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">April 18, 2024<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Neither Holder nor a spokesman for Covington &#038; Burling responded to a request for comment. The White House, however, issued a statement on Sunday condemning the protests that have engulfed the Columbia campus. &#8220;While every American has the right to peaceful protest, calls for violence and physical intimidation targeting Jewish students and the Jewish community are blatantly Antisemitic, unconscionable, and dangerous \u2013 they have absolutely no place on any college campus, or anywhere in the United States of America,&#8221; deputy press secretary Andrew Bates said on Sunday. &#8220;And echoing the rhetoric of terrorist organizations, especially in the wake of the worst massacre committed against the Jewish people since the Holocaust, is despicable. We condemn these statements in the strongest terms.&#8221;<\/p>\n<blockquote data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">This man is holding up the HAMAS LOGO. <\/p>\n<p>I cannot believe I even have to say this -get Hamas off campus <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Columbia?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@Columbia<\/a>. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/lZvrq651El\">pic.twitter.com\/lZvrq651El<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Eden Yadegar (@edenyadegar) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/edenyadegar\/status\/1781047273448677676?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">April 18, 2024<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span>Holder spent several years at Covington before he became attorney general and rejoined the firm after his stint at the Justice Department. He now advises clients on a range of issues including &#8220;cultural and social responsibility,&#8221; <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.law.com\/nationallawjournal\/2021\/04\/16\/covingtons-eric-holder-bills-at-2295-hourly-new-legal-services-contract-shows\/?slreturn=20230626151523\"><span>raking in as much as<\/span><\/a><span>  $2,295 an hour for conducting racial equity audits.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The former attorney general also weighed in on Israel\u2019s war against Hamas last week. <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.atlanticcouncil.org\/blogs\/new-atlanticist\/chuck-hagel-and-eric-holder-on-ukraine-israel-and-the-us-led-world-order\/\"><span>Appearing alongside<\/span><\/a><span>  former Obama secretary of defense and longtime Israel critic Chuck Hagel, Holder called Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu a &#8220;small Man&#8221; and described Israel\u2019s response to Hamas\u2019 Oct. 7 attack as &#8220;extremely disturbing.&#8221; <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>&#8220;I don&#8217;t know exactly how the war should have been conducted, but I can say that the way it has been conducted is extremely disturbing to me, you know, and I think has caused an unnecessary loss of life and does not serve the interests of Israel in the long term,&#8221; Holder said, adding that the U.S. should condition aid to Israel. &#8220;It is time to have that conversation,&#8221; he said. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Hagel, who served as secretary of defense from 2013 to 2015, is a longtime Israel critic whose hostility to the Jewish State has veered into anti-Semitism. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>&#8220;The Jewish lobby intimidates a lot of people up here,&#8221; Hagel, then serving as a senator from Nebraska, told the former Mideast peace negotiator Aaron David Miller in 2006. (Nebraska had a Jewish population of 6,100 people at the time.) &#8220;I\u2019m not an Israeli senator. I\u2019m a United States senator\u2026I support Israel, but my first interest is I take an oath of office to the Constitution of the United States, not to a president, not to a party, not to Israel. If I go run for Senate in Israel, I\u2019ll do that,&#8221; he said. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Hagel is also said to have suggested during a 2007 speech that the State Department was an adjunct of the Israeli foreign minister\u2019s office, according to a <\/span><i><span>Washington<\/span><\/i> <i><span>Free Beacon<\/span><\/i> <a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/report-hagel-said-state-department-controlled-by-israel\/\"><span>report<\/span><\/a><span>, and to have pressed, as CEO of the World USO, to shutter a popular USO port in Haifa. &#8220;He said to me, \u2018Let the Jews pay for it\u2019,&#8221; Marsha Halteman, then the director for military and law enforcement programs at the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs (JINSA), <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/the-saga-of-hagel-and-haifa\/\"><span>told<\/span><\/a><span>  the <\/span><i><span>Free Beacon<\/span><\/i><span>  in 2013. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Those incidents did not appear to have had a negative impact on Holder\u2019s view of his former Obama administration colleague. &#8220;It\u2019s always good to see Chuck Hagel,&#8221; Holder said last Monday. &#8220;This is a good man, this is a very good man, and we need more men like him in both parties in Washington, D.C. now.&#8221; <\/span>\t<\/p>\n<p><i><span>Disclosure<\/span><\/i><span>: The <\/span><i><span>Washington Free Beacon<\/span><\/i><span>  is a Covington &#038; Burling client. But the firm which once represented the <\/span><i><span>Free Beacon<\/span><\/i><span>  in matters of defamation and employment, no longer does so after Covington partner <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cov.com\/en\/professionals\/b\/lindsay-burke\"><span>Lindsay Burke<\/span><\/a><span>  and Of Counsel <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cov.com\/en\/professionals\/c\/jason-criss\"><span>Jason Criss<\/span><\/a><span>  cited a conflict of interest given their discomfort with the <\/span><i><span>Free Beacon<\/span><\/i><span>\u2019s <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/democrats\/starbucks-hired-eric-holder-to-conduct-a-civil-rights-audit-the-policies-he-blessed-got-the-coffee-maker-sued\/\"><span>coverage of Holder\u2019s practice<\/span><\/a><span>. <\/span><\/p>\n<p>Neither Burke nor Criss responded to a request for comment regarding whether they share Holder&#8217;s view that the Columbia protesters have &#8220;legitimate concerns.&#8221;<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_1882158\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1882158\"><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/jasonpcriss\/status\/900682300287053824?s=12&#038;t=cVRrOEC7HqoeeefgDh4iIA\"><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-1882158\">Jason Criss dons a Pod Save America shirt.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Former attorney general Eric Holder supported Columbia University&#8217;s student protesters amid the New York Police Department&#8217;s efforts to remove disruptive protesters violating university policy. A Columbia College and Law School alumnus, Holder expressed concern over campus &#8220;unrest&#8221; in a tweet<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":176,"featured_media":2226849,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Side_By_Side_Collage_Maker_V1-2-1024x1024.png","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[544],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2226848","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-free-beacon"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Side_By_Side_Collage_Maker_V1-2-1024x1024.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2226848","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/176"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2226848"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2226848\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2226849"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2226848"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2226848"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2226848"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}