Trump’s comparison of student protests to Jan. 6 is part of effort to downplay Capitol attack

By ALI SWENSON
Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — Former President Donald Trump is lamenting the possibility that Columbia University’s pro-Palestinian protesters could be treated more leniently than the rioters who stormed the U.S. Capitol in January 2021. His comments mark the second time in a week that the former president has invoked the ongoing campus protests to downplay past examples of right-wing violence. Trump questioned whether student demonstrators who seized and barricaded a campus building early Tuesday, some of them vandalizing it in the process, would be treated the same way as his supporters who attacked the Capitol on Jan. 6 to stop certification of the presidential results. He said, “Let’s see how that all works out.” Police later stormed the building and arrested several dozen people.