Former President Donald Trump, who has called Jan. 6, 2021, rioters “unbelievable patriots,” on Tuesday criticized anti-war protesters at Columbia University for damaging property during their occupation of Hamilton Hall.
The hypocrisy was not lost on commentators, who wondered where this outrage was when hundreds of Trump’s supporters laid siege to the U.S. Capitol in an attempt to overturn the legitimate results of the 2020 election.
Calling into Sean Hannity’s Fox News show, Trump praised New York police for clearing people from the university administration building on Tuesday night. Protesters had occupied the building in protest of Israel’s war on Gaza.
“It should never have gotten to this, and they should have done it a lot sooner than before they took over the building because it would have been a lot easier if they were in tents rather than a building,” Trump told Fox News’ Sean Hannity in a phone interview.
“And tremendous damage done, too. You know, when you look at that building, that’s a landmark, and it’s really been damaged badly by these people.”
Photos from the university show broken windows and stacked furniture inside Hamilton Hall after police had cleared the structure of protesters, dozens of whom were arrested. There were no immediate reports of injuries.
Earlier on Tuesday, speaking at the Manhattan courthouse where he is on criminal trial, Trump compared the Columbia situation to the Jan. 6 attack, and wondered if participants would face the same consequences.
“They took over a building. That is a big deal,” Trump said of the pro-Palestinian protesters. “And I wonder if what’s going to happen to them will be anything comparable to what happened to J6, because they’re doing a lot of destruction, a lot of damages, a lot of people getting hurt very badly.”
More than 1,200 people have been charged by the Justice Department in connection to the deadly Capitol attack, during which rioters ransacked the Capitol and assaulted police.
According to the DOJ, the violence resulted in approximately $2.8 million in losses, including damage to the building and grounds, as well as costs carried by Capitol police.
Trump has promised to pardon Jan. 6 defendants as a priority if he returns to the White House.
Social media users were quick to point out the obvious:
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