[sfx] water splashing. [sfx] ambient laughing. So anytime, join me a charmed. Com how wed really happen with jesse you, martin, sundays at nih on cnn this is Breaking NewsBreaking News tonight, and eerie, calm at Columbia University tonight, the nypd says university of property is clear just about now, three hours after hundreds of officers entered the campus at the universitys request, this the new video of Police ClearingHamilton Hall, which is taken over by propalestinian protesters just last night the doors had been barricaded with chairs and tables and Vending Machines, flash bangs, were used to breach the building according to the police. And police say miraculously that nobody was injured during the operation. Cnn on the Scene Tonight Reporting dozens of people have been arrested and also loaded onto buses. And were learning tonight that the wife of an indicted terrorist was on the campus last week. Its worth pointed to a post on x by sammy lrn, a former University Of Southern Florida professor who pleaded guilty to a charge of conspiring to provide services to the Palestinian Islamic jehad in 2006, he posted on x last week showing a photo of his wife on the campus of Columbia University saying, quote, my wife nala and solidarity with the brave and very determined Columbia University students. I want to bring in cnns Miguel Marquez and also julia jones, miguel, youre out with more alonso . Foresman officers in the streets. What are you seeing tonight yeah. Police and the university of going to be looking to see how many of those arrested tonights were actually students here when there were arrest two weeks ago in 108 were arrested a large percentage of those work were not students here at columbia. I want to show you whats happening being here. This is Amsterdam Avenue, still a large number of police here, although the protesters, for the most part, have gone home, its gotten very, very quiet out here up to street on columbia are on amsterdam. You can see that bus up there, that that bus is one more down 114 street but these buses are waiting for anybody else that is arrested there were a couple of people that were protesters outside the university that were arrested. Thats Hamilton Hall. Just up the way here. This is a john j. Hall and hamilton has all the way up at 116 street. And Amsterdam Avenue it looks to me like police have finally opened up. Wed see now a lot of people just walking down Amsterdam Avenue that had been blocked off for most of the evening. Now, people are able to get down Amsterdam Avenue and walk past hamilton whole thats where police made entry of all of this abroad off of this road for this avenue, amsterdam. Under the second floor of Hamilton Hall, using flash bang grenades, the doors have been barred with tables and chairs and Soda Machines and anything they could and the police now say that it is completely done. It it is amazing how heavily they came in. It was very clear this was happening, this latest afternoon just from the number of barricades that were going up and how they were shutting down broadway and Amsterdam Avenues. Police enter. Theres nobody on the canvas now that shouldnt be there so students who live in the dorms, there can be on campus essential workers. Weve seen them coming and going they are also on campus but they want i keep a Police Presence now on columbia through the commencement commencement to the 15th the university has asked nypd to stay on canvas through at least the 17th of may to make sure that what happened last time, which is that they clear the encampment and then immediately we constituted itself the next the next day, and then we had the backlash across the country. They dont want to see that reconstitution of any sort of encampment or anything else on columbia through the rest of this semester are really important point now the question will be, what will the Police Presence look like in that current iteration . Thank you so much. My golf. All your according. Julia, want to bring in you here. You were on campus when the nypd moved in to clear Hamilton Hall, what did you see so basically, we saw come in russia where were walking they came through and the front of the library and building that Butler Library on new straight into pebbles in calls, where we have seen that human chain by a protesters there. I think do you have. Now write this is the middle of campus. Im it is pretty late at night quiet. You can hear a pin drop here. At this point. And what did you did . Definitely the job that they couldnt get to clear insecure campus, trying to walk us in halls, we have access what that looks like. Right now. Im not sure if he allowed in some students are slowly being allowed fast making sense to you earlier, are allowed to go back to the School Of Journalism according by nypd back on to campus only way to get the high khan two cancels at this point, but it is really calm. Feel like obviously i want happen here tonight theres been a lot of action in this site nypd officers on Campus Community happened i think actually, i think theyre starting to offense on a this is going started all of this or about two of the ten on the west lawn symbolic you know, where we are right now absolutely. Thank you for bringing us this reporting and it does seem that they are Milling Around that and camp an area. I see also stands. There have been set up in anticipation for that may 15th graduation. I want to bring in senior Political Correspondent for the Wall Street Journal molly ball, also former senior congressional gop advisor, arena shaw. Thank you both for being here. I mean, we are weve been watching this live as its been coming out. Of course, and we are seeing that weve got some people have been using all the rhetoric and discussions. This has been all over the airways from Speaker Johnson Visit recently to president farmers and trump talking about this and beyond, begin with you, molly, on this. What are you making of the political reaction that is he has already happened. And what was likely to become. Well, look, this is these protests have deeply divided the democratic party. I think its fair to say that the party is on fire over this. Weve had some Progressive Democrats appearing with the protesters, show wanting to show solidarity with them other predominantly jewish democrats decrying the protest, pointing to the antisemitism that we have seen all over these protests all over the country. And i think the president s silence is becoming conspicuous. It is his policies that are extensively being protested here and he said very little and again, this is at a time when hes being criticized by the opposition when summer, even comparing this to charlottesville, which was the reason why he supposedly first ran for president another protest in which a president at the time equivocated about which side he was on i, think i think the politics of this are going to continue to reverberate even if it is the case that the protestors are cochlear permanently from campus, our own jeff zeleny has some reporting as well, apparently more than 250 former obama biden staffers are blast and the white house over gaza and the latter, i have the letters dated today and they are imploring the administration to speak up and say more and call for an immediate ceasefire. I was redoing a one portion of it. It says President Biden you not uncommitted voters or Third Party Candidates are risking a Trump Presidency and our democracy by Defending The War Crimes and agenda of a foreign far right government. You are ignoring the growing majority of democratic voters recognize israels war in gaza as a genocide and demanded immediate and permanent ceasefire you are abandoning your duty, represent us the majority and you are responsible for the consequences of your own actions and inactions. Thats just page thats paragraph two of an otherwise lengthy letter. So clearly from these Trinity Staffers are very upset is this, if you were to extrapolate to the larger audience though, is that in line we are months away from october 7. And of course, the horrific actions that happened over there on that day. And i think so much has been lost in this time. And number one, we can fully expect for trump and Congressional Republican leader peters to come out and message as soon if they havent already attempted to prompt you to play as on what you respond to, that clip because trump actually did it. Hes on fox news earlier tonight perhaps repression about what youre getting ready to say, listen to what he had to say we have to stop the antisemitism. Thats just pervading our country right now and bike nasa do septic biden is supposed to be the voice of our country and its certainly not much of a voice is the voice that nobodys heard yeah. I mean, there it is the painting of this as Bidens America a week america, not just on the global stage, but a weakness here on The Home Front where youre seeing the tensions really would tonights intense rate at columbia. And i must add, im breathing a sigh of relief like many are that this did not result in any loss of life because anytime theres something at a university campus, we can expect that theres a certain recklessness people were willing to risk it all. But i think whats been lost, we is at the core with these students are protesting coasttocoast. This isnt just happening at ivs. Why are people organizing . Its not because theyre pro hamas or their antisemitic maddock. There of course, those people, but they are very few. I mean, theres bad actors in every movement, right . But these people are largely antiwar, an anti netanyahu. So what they feel is our Taxpayer Dollars are going to do this hypocrisy to give this unfettered support to netanyahu, say take our weapons take our money, do what you want, and netanyahu is breathing. He just knows hell get a slap on the wrist from biden on one hand, but here on the other hand, were giving billions of dollars in humanitarian aid in gaza, which is only trickling in for various reasons as we know, its all very complicated and looking at the politics of the moment, i am just sad that this is where our country is right now in an election year, were so much is on the line for all of us. Our freedoms, whether you are man, woman, black, white, brown, whatever, you identify as, there are a lot of things that have complicated themselves this year because our leaders have failed us in many ways. So on the one hand, im happy to see the student putting democracy in action because its far better than apathy. But this painting with a broad brush that speaker johnson and Congressional Republicans did last week. It sat in me, it was a missed opportunity. They could speak to the future of american instead, they were admonishing them, saying that they were all part of hatefilled speech. Well, i was just simply not true. We bring you into tamales because the white house would say no, president has condemned. He spoke about the word he used about to taking over of Hamilton Hall was that it was wrong. Now, obviously there is far stronger rhetoric to use and thats part of the reason that hes been criticized about whether he has gotten far enough. There has been reporting about a backandforth between himself and netanyahu where Secretary Blinken as described some tension and of course, Cringe Empire as well as press secretary. But what, what, what does it take in terms of the political Course Correction if youre biden, i mean, this is a president ial election year, true. But even if it were not, the fact that there are comparisons being made to the charlottesville at all. There are their voices and good people on both sides what would it take for the biden imitation to course correct . I dont think there is a safe place for the president politically on this issue, given that so much of his base is demanding something that he cant give them, right . It is not what it is not within the us power to impose a ceasefire on a war that we are not fighting. And our leverage over israel is limited, right now Secretary Blinken is in the middle east trying to negotiate a ceasefire that the leaders of hamas have repeatedly rejected. So when, when Neither Party in the middle east really wants a ceasefire, its not really within the us power to impose and that i think has been a problem for these protesters from the beginning. Number one, that theyre trying to put pressure on an institution whose connection to these events and overseas is very tenuous. These demands for divestment when they dont even know what the investments are in the first place. When its not clear that that would have any effect on the conflict overseas so obviously, you know progressives liberals democrats are very deeply divided on this conflict. And i think thats part of the reason that we havent seen the president really definitively take aside and exert leadership and i think that is part, and i think thankfully, i think these protesters have lost the country. I dont think that the American People are broadly on their sayyed, and i think that they are continuing to marginalize themselves when we see scenes like these tonight, even if it is the case that most americans do support peaceful protest and do support the right to free speech, losing the country on the moment of the occupation of Hamilton Hall, perhaps is a standard line in the sand for some, but we asked me, we all know recently on capitol hill and then obviously, President Biden is the president of the United States but congress was the one, to the power of the purse to appropriate funding for not only the indopacific region and ukraine, but also israel. Why do you think its not congress, which is led by, i know its not even a razor then majority at this point its like a majority were with republicans. Why is congress not getting the brunt of the wrath in terms of the policies if theyre also giving funding. But we did see a few dozen democrats, mostly on the far left vote against the funding for israel when they were broken up piece valle well, as some republicans on the far right and yet it was a robust, broad, bipartisan vote. And i think that reflects the fact that in polls, the vast majority of americans support israel in this conflict. Now support for israels conduct in the war is a different story. Support for foreign aid is a different story. It tore for netanyahu, perhaps a different story, right . And so i think its possible to see a lot of subtleties in Public Opinion on this issue, but it is still the case that israel has broad bipartisan support in congress. Well, it quick rain as were watching the live footage from outside of Hamilton Hall, a very different place. The doors now open no longer barrel k, the property has been cleared and we know that dozens have been arrested. All that we do not know the exact numbers and of course unlike the scenes we saw yesterday of a loan st. Pub gives the official who is being pushed back as he tried to move back the crowd of people who is coming inside, you see a Police Presence right now, liquid written when you look at this, this this now under control is this also true . This will reflect well on biden its hard to tell what this is going to do for biden really in the moment its so easy to pin this all on one person instead of on congress writ large, which i think should be included. I think its its an important thing to draw these distinctions that you just mentioned. But in essence i think theres just so much tension and frustration with the status quo being what its been this unfettered support we give for israel and not everybody subscribes to it the way nikki haley paints it out to be that there are only ally in the region and we have no choice but to give them that support. These students are engaging and have been engaging in what i think is an important Critical Thinking exercise. But its gone too far. Ive always been a big fan of assembly and nonviolent demonstration, but i also have one for law and order, which is what the vast majority of americans or four, i think tonights response was appropriate. Im somebody thats been invited speaker to columbia via three times over the years and greatly enjoyed that University Community and my heart really hurts for them today because this is a Forward Community of what i would consider normal and tolerant people. Largely what well see what happens in the courtrooms in manhattan tomorrow. Although the former president w